Buckinghamshire CC ANPR cameras

[Ian Batten]

On 10 Jan 2012, at 0859, Ian Mason wrote:

> While many hypothetical cases for privacy have been made here, stalking et al, there is a presumption in law (HRA) and in implicit social codes of conduct for a right to respect for privacy and family life, and systems that can breach those ought to be designed to effectively protect them except in the necessary circumstances and only in those circumstances.

I would be somewhat surprised were Article 8 rights to extend to driving cars.   I'd certainly want to see some case law.

> 
> In the case in point, monitoring traffic flows by recording individual vehicle movements, there is clearly a risk to legitimate privacy 

I'm not so sure: I think it's at least arguable that driving a car is a privilege, not a right (cf the license you need in order to do it) and the state therefore has different obligations and constraints as compared to something that doesn't require a license.    I don't have a dog in this fight, and I'm more interested in exploring the issues rather than declaiming a fixed position, but I'm not at all convinced that a right to drive without data being incidentally gathered about you really exists.  Perhaps it should, but I don't think it exists today.

ian