Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection evaluated that frequent publishing in the media of recordings of tragic traffic accidents coupled with personal data of the participants and their recognizable shots, confirm almost complete lack of legal regulation in video surveillance field.
Remindingthat for years already it has been requested from the competent authorities to legally regulate the field of video surveillance, as stipulated by the Constitution, the Commissionerwarned that the lack of clear and precise legal norms that would define the purpose, role and method of implementing various kinds of video surveillance inevitably results in constant risk and violations of the rights of citizens, guaranteed by the Constitutionand the Personal Data Protection Act.
In relation to that, the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic also stated the following:
"On the occasion of publishing a video record on tragic traffic accident in Novi Sad, accompanied with personal data of all participants, the inspectors, authorized persons of the Commissioner shall today implement surveillance in the Traffic Police in Novi Sad in PUC "Informatika" (Informatics). After the implemented surveillance,adequate measures shall follow. The public shall as always be informed about the surveillanceoutcomes and measures implemented by the Commissioner.
Immediately after that, it shall be necessary, more or less based on the same inducement, to implement surveillance in Nis, then in some other town. We are facinga real danger that numerous video surveillance "systems" might turn into horror and scandal productions.
I would also use this opportunityto once again appeal to the media to reassess publishing of records of such events, accompanied with recognizable faces of participants and their personal data, from the standpoint of ethical standards of their own profession. Objectiveinforming of the public can be secured even without unnecessary encroachment into participants' privacy and without triggering additional painful emotions with their closest ones.
Simultaneously I am once again warning the people from the police and other state authorities to the provision of Article 42 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, strictly stipulating that it is prohibited and punishable using personal data outside the purpose for which they have been collected. The purpose of video surveillance in this specific case is to contribute to traffic safety, to help the authorities in charge in discovering and proving the criminal act. Distribution of such records, for other purposes, accompanied with personal data of the participants, regardless if the intentions are lucrative or other, is a criminal act, and as such must not be a subject of interest of only Commissionerfor (Information of Public Importanceand) Personal Data Protection, but also of the Prosecutor's Office and of the Police."
