Fact-Finding Survey on CCTV Cameras in the Private Sector
Including Public Bath Facilities
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) requested Baekseok University to conduct a fact-finding survey from April to October 2010 to investigate problems of installment and operation of Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV) in the private sector. The inspection was divided into two sections: CCTV cameras in 420 randomly chosen public baths nationwide; and the CCTV cameras in private sectors including houses, stores, schools and private facilities.
According to the survey, a total of 301 out of 420 public baths have CCTV cameras installed and more than 37.1 percent of them operate these cameras without posting notice(operation hours, purpose of the installment, the person in charge), which is illegal. One-third(30.3%) of them were found to have cameras around dressing rooms, inside shower rooms, at the entrance of toilet and sleeping rooms, where human rights are highly likely to be violated.
CCTV cameras in the private sectors include almost all sectors of living such as houses, stores, underpass, colleges, streets, pavements, markets and public transportations. A normal citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 83.1 times each day on average (from 59 to 110 times) and once per nine seconds while moving.
In addition, most private CCTV cameras are filming public sectors such as streets, and there are high possibilities of privacy infringement due to rotating and zooming functions of the camera.
Furthermore, concerns on privacy keep rising with the advancement of technology, as network cameras can be controlled remotely through the Internet and allow information gathering.
