ICO tears school CCTV a new peephole
The debate on the use of CCTV in schools moved on this week, as the Information Commissioner ever so politely read the riot act over the use of CCTV systems in schools and colleges.
The dressing-down followed a report by the Daily Mail of a distressing incident in which a school’s threat to "rewind the tapes" was used to extract a confession – to the appalling crime of "hiding shoes" – from an eight-year-old.
While the victim’s mother was said to be delighted with the result, the girl at the centre of the inquisition was understandably less so. Her mother said: "My daughter no longer wants to go to the school: the cameras have made her a bit panicky."
Last time El Reg looked at this issue, the Information Commissioner was treading carefully. The Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO) published general guidelines (pdf) on the use of CCTV in 2008, which advised:
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