> As a fundamental right, doesn't that mean that the government needs to abide by it as well? Can an EU resident demand that their image be removed from all footage collected by public surveillance cameras, for example?
That's a good point. The term "fundamental right" occurs only the recitals, not in the law itself IIRC. The laws applies to authorities, but not when they carry out the legal tasks in prosecuting and preventing crimes and dealing with public security. So you would not have any rights with respect to video surveillance by authorities, unless you could prove that that is not done for public security :(
When it comes to authorities practices differ a lot in the EU. Let me give 2 examples because I live/lived there
1. In Germany video surveillance of public spaces is not very popular. One of the biggest cities in Germany, Frankfurt/M. seems to have 6 (six) such cameras now. And whenever there is a new one, it still makes big headlines http://www.fnp.de/lokales/frankfurt/Datenschuetzer-Es-wird-z... (In socialist East Germany they had them already in the 1980, but I am sure they all disappeared in 1990)
Google has stopped rolling out Streetview in the very early beginnings. Not that it is an authority, but it shows the public opinion, even if it's a single picture every couple of years and faces are blurred.
It appears that the resistance is more and more broken. At my last visits in Germany I saw cameras on trains/buses for the first time. I'd assume they are not counted as public spaces, but private properties. Which is a problematic classification considering their function. In Northern Ireland cameras were standard on buses already in the 1990s, no idea for how long before that.
When you get a German passport they will store the fingerprint on it (I guess that's a nearly world-wide standard for machine readable passports). However, in Germany they make a big fuzz about it that the fingerprint is erased from all databases as soon as you have accepted your new passport. If you detect a typo in your passport after accepting it, you have to apply for a new one, pay again and have your fingerprints taken again.
2. In Finland public videos surveillance has existed in all big cities (not that there are many...) for decades. There are also street condition (think snow) cameras on the internet. It's not their purpose, but some of them show fully identifiable people when they happen to walk by. Not many people seem to be bothered about it.
In Finland the fingerprints for the passports are stored until there will be a law how they are allowed to be used. Only few people believe that the police would not use them to solve a high profile crime before the law is ready.
A common Europe is still a big fiction in many aspects.
FWIW the cameras on public transit (which have been the norm in Cologne for at least a decade I think) are legal (under the old data protection laws anyway) because the recordings are automatically destroyed after 24 hours or so.
I think the GDPR would protect them because of a number of factors:
* there's a legitimate security interest (vandalism, terrorism, rape and other personal crimes)
* the recordings are not stored longer than necessary to fulfill that purpose
* there is clear signage indicating you are entering an area with surveillance cameras (i.e. you are giving informed consent)
The GDPR protects the individual's right to privacy but it's a balancing act and the security interests are fairly valid.
> * there is clear signage indicating you are entering an area with surveillance cameras (i.e. you are giving informed consent)
So if I don't want to be filmed on the bus I take a taxi for 10 times the price? (Not sure whether they might have cameras, too. Haven't taken a taxi in Germany for many years.) Or I walk 2 hours?
That's not what I would call informed consent. It's information yes, but as long as there are no competing bus lines without cameras there is no choice really.
That's a good point. The term "fundamental right" occurs only the recitals, not in the law itself IIRC. The laws applies to authorities, but not when they carry out the legal tasks in prosecuting and preventing crimes and dealing with public security. So you would not have any rights with respect to video surveillance by authorities, unless you could prove that that is not done for public security :(
When it comes to authorities practices differ a lot in the EU. Let me give 2 examples because I live/lived there
1. In Germany video surveillance of public spaces is not very popular. One of the biggest cities in Germany, Frankfurt/M. seems to have 6 (six) such cameras now. And whenever there is a new one, it still makes big headlines http://www.fnp.de/lokales/frankfurt/Datenschuetzer-Es-wird-z... (In socialist East Germany they had them already in the 1980, but I am sure they all disappeared in 1990)
Google has stopped rolling out Streetview in the very early beginnings. Not that it is an authority, but it shows the public opinion, even if it's a single picture every couple of years and faces are blurred.
It appears that the resistance is more and more broken. At my last visits in Germany I saw cameras on trains/buses for the first time. I'd assume they are not counted as public spaces, but private properties. Which is a problematic classification considering their function. In Northern Ireland cameras were standard on buses already in the 1990s, no idea for how long before that.
When you get a German passport they will store the fingerprint on it (I guess that's a nearly world-wide standard for machine readable passports). However, in Germany they make a big fuzz about it that the fingerprint is erased from all databases as soon as you have accepted your new passport. If you detect a typo in your passport after accepting it, you have to apply for a new one, pay again and have your fingerprints taken again.
2. In Finland public videos surveillance has existed in all big cities (not that there are many...) for decades. There are also street condition (think snow) cameras on the internet. It's not their purpose, but some of them show fully identifiable people when they happen to walk by. Not many people seem to be bothered about it.
In Finland the fingerprints for the passports are stored until there will be a law how they are allowed to be used. Only few people believe that the police would not use them to solve a high profile crime before the law is ready.
A common Europe is still a big fiction in many aspects.