Actually, the headline (from the Toronto Metro free paper) is a little misleading as what my friend and colleague Andrew Clement is actually betting on here is that no-one can find a video surveillance system in Canada that is fully compliant with Canadian privacy law. Which of course may of may not be the same as ‘privacy’ in any other terms. But it’s an interesting challenge – that is largely to do with signage. Prof Clement and his team at the iSchool at UofT have been monitoring the way in which video surveillance systems in Canada are signed for quite some time. As their website, surveillancerights.ca (which is also where you can try to claim your $100…) says
“Signs should at a minimum clearly tell you:
- who is operating the camera
- who you can contact if you have questions
- the purpose(s) of the surveillance”
The signs should also in themselves be clearly visible, not hidden away somewhere. There’s more detailed information about requirments here.
So, who’s going to take up this bet?
(Thanks to Matthias Vermeulen for the story and Aaron Martin for noticing the difference between privacy and privacy law.)
ubisurv 