The state and the private sector are intensively using the latest video surveillance tools in various circumstances and for various purposes.
Despite the obvious benefits of video surveillance, everyone who carries it out must be clearly aware that there is only video surveillance provided by legal grounds.
For example, a Portuguese company that owns a building installed a video surveillance system in the elevators of the building without obtaining the consent of the tenants of the premises and without registering it with the authorized body for personal data.
The purpose of installing the system was to combat vandalism. One day, having recorded an act of vandalism and established the identity of the vandal, the company's management called him «on the carpet».
The vandal immediately filed a complaint with the authorized body for personal data, which ruled that the method of obtaining evidence on this incident of vandalism was illegal due to the lack of permission to install a video surveillance system.
The system was dismantled, and the vandal paid a fine in the minimum amount stipulated by law.
Without proper justification for the purpose of video surveillance, it is obviously outside the scope of the Law.
It should also be remembered that even predetermined and justified purposes may not allow the use of the obtained data for other purposes, although obvious from the point of view of expediency.
Finally, it should be remembered that the legality of the purpose does not exist in isolation from the constitutional rights of citizens, primarily from the right to protect privacy.
No matter how significant the goal of protecting property may be, achieving this goal, for example, in the context of ensuring the safety of hotel equipment, does not allow the installation of video surveillance devices in residential premises (living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets, etc.).
Article 24 of the CONSTITUTION of the Russian Federation
1. The collection, storage, use and dissemination of information about the private life of an individual without his consent are not permitted.
Comments on Article 24 of the Constitution
The Constitution, establishing the right to seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information (Part 4 of Article 29), in Part 1 of Article 24, in accordance with international standards, provides for restrictions on this right aimed at protecting privacy, respecting the rights and reputation of others.
…
The Constitution establishes the consent of a person as a mandatory condition for the collection, storage, use and dissemination of information about the private life of a person.
…
The constitutional norm is formulated broadly, which obliges everyone to comply with the established procedure* for collecting, storing, using and disseminating information about a person's private life. This obligation applies not only to state authorities and administration, state enterprises and organizations, but also to commercial and public organizations and enterprises, as well as to citizens.
…
Part 1 of Article 24 establishes a general rule, from which there are exceptions enshrined in the relevant legislative acts. Thus, the consent of a person is not required for the collection, storage, use and dissemination of information about him during an investigation, inquiry, operational-search activities.
The procedure for law enforcement agencies to work with personal information is regulated by procedural, primarily criminal procedural, legislation. The said agencies do not have the right to go beyond the law.
In the event of a violation of the constitutional right of an individual to comply with the procedure for collecting, storing, using and disseminating personal information, the interested person has the right to seek protection from the judicial authorities.
In this article, we will consider the most popular legal aspects of video surveillance. For example, the legal subtleties of installing video surveillance at an enterprise, in an office.
According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Part 1 of Article 23), each of us has the right to privacy. Information about it cannot be collected, stored, used and distributed without the consent of a person (Part 1 of Article 24 of the Constitution).
However, many managers believe that there can be nothing personal at work, and when installing cameras in offices, they do not ask employees for consent and do not inform them about video surveillance at all. According to Article 21 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employee has the right to full information about the conditions and labor protection in the workplace.
Such evidence, in accordance with civil procedural legislation, must have the property of admissibility (Article 60 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
And by virtue of the direct instruction of the law, evidence obtained in violation of the law has no legal force and cannot be used as the basis for a court decision (Part 2 of Article 55 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation), i.e. such evidence does not have the property of admissibility.
According to the court, a secretly obtained video recording cannot be the basis for imposing disciplinary liability on an employee in the form of dismissal (Articles 192, 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), and the employer was unable to provide other evidence of the employee committing a disciplinary offense.
Thus, the organization of video surveillance in an office or production facility requires compliance with many conditions.
Otherwise, the employer may find himself in various unpleasant situations — from losing the loyalty of employees who learned about the surveillance system through rumors, to losing a case in court.
But if you use video surveillance in the office in compliance with all legal regulations, video recording will help you not only ensure security, but will give you the opportunity to control business processes and situations within your company.
You should approach the choice of the equipment supplier responsibly. But if you use video surveillance in the office in compliance with all legal regulations, video recording will help you not only to ensure security, but will give you the opportunity to control business processes and situations within your company.
You should approach the choice of the equipment supplier responsibly, be sure to pay attention to the availability of relevant documents and certificates.
All products of the Acumen company are certified, officially supplied to Russia, which is the main condition for the legality of video surveillance. As an optimal solution for the office, the Acumen company offers a kit for building a standard video surveillance system Ai-LISA.
With proper design, the kit will help to effectively solve a number of production problems related to employee monitoring, internal conflicts in the organization, and will also contribute to overall security.
The Ai-LISA kit includes 4 surveillance cameras, a compact Ai-D541 video recorder, the recorder uses progressive H.264 compression technology, designed to achieve a high degree of video stream compression while maintaining high quality.
The kit also includes a 500 GB hard drive, which will allow you to store and view the recording for up to 1 month.
And related elements: cables, connectors. In the Ai-LISA kit, all equipment is guaranteed to be compatible with each other and is the optimal set of necessary devices.