united-kingdom gdpr privacy
How does the personal/household activity exemption not apply to domestic CCTV pointed to the street?
<p>I am surprised to learn that, in the UK, private/domestic CCTV cameras pointed to the public street <a href="https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-being-filmed/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">make the owner GDPR controller</a> — with all the consequences like having to respond to data requests from all those strangers who were filmed.</p>
<p>In Czech Republic though, the <a href="https://gdpr-info.eu/recitals/no-18/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">personal/household activity exemption</a> <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/50972/2682"><s>applies</s></a> (edit: no, it does not, my bad).</p>
<p>Was/is it correct for the courts to not apply the exemption? How is filming the street with personal CCTV substantially different from filming it with a phone? (other than for the operator not being visible to the strangers — which makes the first impression for them that nothing is being filmed).</p>

<h2>Why do you expect different courts to determine different laws in the same way?</h2>
<p>The Czech and UK laws that implement the GDPR are necessary different because they are the products of different legislative and legal traditions and are written in different languages. The differences may be minor but they will exist.</p>
<p>Particular cases will have different factual and legal nuances and be interpreted by different courts with very different judicial traditions.</p>
<p>Czech courts set no precedents in UK courts and vice-versa.</p>
<p>It’s no surprise that there will be different outcomes.</p>
<p>Even jurisdictions with much closer legal traditions like US Federal Circuit Courts and Australian states often have divergent precedents on similar (or the same) legislation.</p>

<p>&quot;in the UK, private/domestic CCTV cameras pointed to the public street make the owner GDPR controller&quot; is not an accurate summary of the law.</p>
<p><a href="https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/domestic-cctv-systems-guidance-for-people-being-filmed/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">From the ICO Website</a>, emphasis added:-</p>
<p>&quot;Data protection laws don’t apply if the cameras <strong>cover only the user’s own private property, including their garden</strong>. Therefore, visitors caught on these cameras don’t have specific data protection rights in relation to the images captured on those cameras.&quot;</p>
