In just a few years, video camera technology has become a staple of our lives. From the clips of a few seconds that are uploaded to social networks such as Instagram and Snapchat, to the smartphone camera footage of evenings out, to the small GoPro cameras used to capture athletic moments, to the millions of hours of video freely available on YouTube, video is everywhere.
And yet, in the UAE, the law on video is ambiguous. As our report explained yesterday, motorists who wish to purchase dashcams find themselves in a legal grey area.
On the one hand, cameras are everywhere: traffic cameras, CCTV in apartment buildings and offices and even at ATM machines. We are filmed constantly. Yet at the same time, due to privacy laws in this country, it is unclear what can and can’t be filmed, what permission is required in order to film in public and crucially, what can be done with the resulting footage.
There are different interpretations of dashcam footage around the world. In the US, it is admissible in court. In Germany and Austria, it often is not. In the UK, some insurance companies lower your premium if you have a dashcam fitted.
A similar discussion needs to be started in the UAE. The law is lagging behind technological developments. Dashcams may be the latest product in the news, but there are many more video devices available and forthcoming: smart glasses, watches with cameras. “Wearable tech”, as such products are called, is only increasing.
Perhaps it may be time for legal reform proposals. At the heart of the issue lie privacy concerns. This is why some German courts refuse to accept dashcam evidence – the concern is that dashcams would be soon followed by citizens wearing cameras everywhere, which would, the Germans suggest, erode the right to privacy in daily life. Similar concerns naturally exist in the UAE. Privacy matters a great deal. But technology is developing rapidly. Some measure of legal reform is needed to clearly define what’s allowed so that those who take video know what they can or can’t do with it.
