Several parties want to make it legal to share surveillance footage online
Businesses should be allowed to share surveillance footage, according to several legal spokespersons.
Frederik Schmidt at Min Købmand in Trustrup is one of those who have shared surveillance material illegally online. 56 minutes ago.
When a thief has been caught on camera in the act, it can be tempting to post the video of the theft on social media in the hope of getting stolen goods back.
Read also: Several shop owners break the law: 'I expose criminals, and I have no problem with that'
But it is illegal to share surveillance footage if the individuals are not fully anonymized, have not consented to it, or if there is no legal requirement or contract that makes the sharing legal.
The Danish People's Party now wants to change that.
According to the party's legal spokesperson, Anders Vistisen, they will introduce a bill that, among other things, will make it legal for businesses to post surveillance videos on social media.
- I think we should protect those who are victims of crime, not those who commit the crime, he says.
------------------------
'A comprehensible reaction'
------------------------
According to the company Os og Data, which has mapped 48,000 Facebook groups, it is happening more and more often that both businesses and private individuals post images of burglaries, theft, and vandalism on Facebook.
And Anders Vistisen understands that businesses feel compelled to share the surveillance footage.
- It is a comprehensible reaction and frustration when we know that the police have deprioritized these cases of economic crime for a number of years, he says.
- Therefore, we want to give business owners the opportunity to do it in a legal way, so that they do not feel they have to break the law when trying to prevent shop theft.
Anders Vistisen emphasizes that clear guidelines must be set to prevent the system from being exploited.
- It is not the case that you should be able to post it if you just have a suspicion and cannot document anything from the video, but if there is no doubt, I don't think it is a problem.
Isn't it an invitation to vigilantism to allow the sharing of these videos?
- I don't think it is about vigilantism. It is about asking the public for help in identifying these perpetrators so they can be held accountable.
It is among other things the EU's GDPR rules that make it difficult for businesses to share surveillance footage legally, but Anders Vistisen still believes it should be possible to change the legislation in Denmark.
- There is no doubt that there are some in the EU who will find it problematic, but we also believe that the GDPR rules have been implemented very strictly in Denmark, and there are exceptional cases where they can yield. Ultimately, we may have to take it to the EU Court of Justice if necessary.
---------------------------------------------------
Social Democrats and Denmark Democrats back the proposal
---------------------------------------------------
The proposal from the Danish People's Party receives support from several other parties in the Danish Parliament.
The Denmark Democrats' legal spokesperson, Hans Kristian Skibby, agrees that it should be allowed to share videos on social media.
- More rights must be given to these owners and shops that have their goods stolen, so we certainly do not reject that evidence material can be made public to a greater extent.
According to the company Os og Data, the sharing is partly due to more people having surveillance cameras available. (Photo: © Erik Riber/DR)
Also within the Social Democrats, legal spokesperson Lea Wermelin is ready to discuss the Danish People's Party's proposal.
- New technological possibilities have emerged, and I think we should look into whether we can use them to a greater extent, thereby giving business owners better opportunities to prevent it from happening in the first place.
However, she emphasizes that there must be clear guidelines for when the material may be shared.
- We must of course ensure that innocent people are not exposed, so we also need to look at what disadvantages there may be.
The Danish People's Party introduced a similar proposal in 2020, which was voted down in the Danish Parliament.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.