Who Are They Watching?

It is an unpleasant and unnerving thought that we might be watched by complete strangers as we go about our daily lives. Of course we are all accustomed to the
proliferation of surveillance cameras in the UK and this has given rise to comparisons with Big Brother – CCTV in our streets and shopping arcades, in shops, on police vehicles and ‘body worn’ cameras on the police themselves. But is it all being done for benign reasons of public safety and crime prevention and where are we safe from the state’s prying eye?

You would think, would you not, that the answer would unquestionably be in your own home, but here in Ripon at least, this may not be the case.
Harbinger would like to know why at 08.50 on the 22nd April this surveillance camera appears to be pointing directly into the upstairs (bedroom?) windows of the apartment opposite. The camera remained at this angle for at least 15 minutes and then turned to face up the street.

The Human Rights Act states: CCTV operators must be fully aware and signed up to the system Codes of Practice and Procedures, including matters relating to Human Rights, Data Protection, PACE Act 1984
It says: ‘Everyone has the right to respect for private and family life, his home and his correspondence’. And further: ‘All surveillance carried out must be ‘necessary in a democratic society’.

There may of course be a perfectly innocent explanation for this but if this were my bedroom, or worse, that of my teenage daughter I would be feeling rightly indignant and would, under those circumstances seek to identify who is responsible for this gross infringement of privacy and human rights.

Come on Harrogate Council: explain yourselves.