Security cameras: You are only allowed to use them to film private land.
Dash cam: The footage can not be published with faces and/or license plates legible (anything that can be linked to a person really). You are allowed to keep the footage for private purposes unedited.
I learned that you have to request a permit from the local authorities stating purpose, duration, retention/processing... Not doing so might incur some pretty hefty fines if reported.
> It is also not forbidden to film out of my doorway, is it?
It is if you're looking at the public road out of your door. Cameras need to be angled so that they do not film public spaces. There was a case a few years back about police stations in Baden-Württemberg needing to shut down their cameras because one complaint found them to surveil too much of the sidewalk.
Very interesting. This would inhibit an enormous number of private security cameras if implemented in the US, particularly in cities without much of a setback from the building to the sidewalk.
Is there an exception for ATMs?
[edit] just to clarify, I said "certainly" because the idea of public space being unsurveilled is such a foreign concept to me these days. I do think there are valid safety use cases for private cameras on the street - cash machines being high on my list. Government cameras (or those accessible by government without a warrant) I think should require a much higher standard to be met. But for private use, for instance, my front door camera covers the area of sidewalk directly in front of my house. Where I live, I am liable for accidents that occur on that piece of sidewalk and the curb, should I not shovel my snow or someone slips on autumn leaves or if a tree limb falls on someone's car. I don't like the idea of the police accessing that camera, but I do like the idea of having a record of what takes place in a public area I'm personally liable for maintaining.
I'm not sure about ATMs, many banks in Germany have them inside a foyer you access with your cards. I assume outside ATMs a) angle cameras upwards so they film the person in front of it but will hardly capture someone that's walking by half a meter behind them, b) only film during a transaction, and aren't "surveilling" the area by being always-on.
I don't know though.
In Germany, you're also partially liable for accidents that happen due to side-walk maintenance (which is a stupid idea imho because many people just don't care, so you end up with lots of icy sidewalks in winter). But Germany is generally cheap on damages, so if someone falls in front of your house and breaks their wrist and cannot work fully, you'd pay a few thousand Euros at most. Since you'd need to actually prove damages in court, and would need to actually break your bones etc, I haven't heard of scams in that regard. Might happen occasionally, but it's not a common thing.
In some countries they don't. In Portugal for example they are not allowed and you can get fined for having one. You also cannot have a camera filming the street without specific authorization from a public entity for data protection, and you most likely will get denied unless you are a business and are filming only inside your premises, if you point your camera to the street you likely are getting denied. Ring cameras would be illegal there too.
Image rights and rights for privacy are up there just below right to life, so for example in a court case, video evidence is only accepted if it's a murder or attempted murder case. If you film me stealing your stuff it's not admissible.
Main reason being that the constitution considers your right to go about your business in any place with whoever you want to not be disclosed without your consent.
They're regulated. Not German nor a lawyer but my understanding is that security cameras should only film private property (or as much as possible) and constantly running dashcams aren't allowed. It seems you're only allowed to record when something is happening but a dashcam which deletes the records unless you save them seem to be fair game
Switzerland for example forbids private cameras from filming public areas like the street. You either have to block those areas in camera or put the camera somewhere else. Door cameras are difficult because they sometimes point towards the street.
Public cameras must adhear to strict data retention rules and signs must be posted. Additionally in cities like Zürich doing face recognition on public ground is forbidden and will most likely be nationwide soon.
Dashcams are a gray zone. What is for sure is that the footage can not be used in court unless it's a very serious case and you can not publish footage without anonymiezing it. What Tesla does with storing footage in a Dutch DC is probably illegal but so far the authorities have not done anything against it.
