Electronic Surveillance

(asked on 29th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) regulate, (b) supervise and (c) control the sale of covert listening and filming devices.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 12th May 2020

Private organisations using surveillance equipment will need to ensure that their use of this equipment complies with the UK’s data protection laws.

Our data protection laws impose strict obligations on both individuals and organisations to process people’s data fairly and lawfully and to ensure that any data collected is held securely. There must also be a legal basis for processing data. The way in which personal data is collected and handled must be fair and transparent, and the data should be processed in a way which individuals would expect.

The UK’s data protection laws are enforced independently of Government by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Organisations that fail to comply may be subject to enforcement action by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Whilst a breach of these laws is not generally a criminal offence, the Information Commissioner can impose significant financial penalties for non-compliance.

Where this equipment is used by individuals for private purposes, data protection rules will not normally apply, but criminal offences, such as stalking and harassment, might be relevant depending on the circumstances of the case.

Whilst the Government remains open to considering any gaps identified in the law, it currently considers that the range of existing legal provisions provides a robust framework.

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