The complainant asked me to investigate the actions of his neighbour who had set up a video camera aimed directly into the complainant's living area. He felt it was a breach of his privacy to be under surveillance from an unfriendly neighbour.

This complaint raised three issues:

(i) whether the camera was in fact capable of collecting information;(ii) whether, if the video camera was capable, this manner of collecting information would be a breach of IPP 4 as intruding to an unreasonable extent upon the affairs of the individual concerned; and(iii) whether the application of the principles would be excluded by s.56 of the Privacy Act which states that the principles do not apply where personal information is collected solely or principally for the purposes of, or in connection with, that individual's personal, family or household affairs.

Following discussions with the neighbour I established that the camera was only a dummy and not capable of collecting personal information. The complainant was informed that because the camera was not operational and therefore had not collected personal information, no action had been or could be taken that would result in an interference of privacy in terms of the Act.

On this basis the complaint was closed. It was therefore not necessary to investigate whether the collection would have been covered by s.56 and thus exempt from the privacy principle.

May 1994

Collecting personal information - Neighbour - Video surveillance of complainant's property - Camera not operational - Personal information not 'collected' - Privacy Act 1993, s 56 - Information privacy principle 4