CCTVs (Close Circuit Televisions) are effective security devices, even for homes. Availability and affordability have made them a common sight in most urban neighbourhoods. Some expert reports say the ever-watching eye of the CCTV may even be more effective than security systems that are triggered at the point of break-ins. Thieves and other trespassers will be deterred from approaching the premises if their presence is likely to be captured by CCTVs. The fear of being recorded in the vicinity of the home is enough to deter intruders who fear being seen. It is said that even dummy CCTVs have the same effect as real ones.
Although generally beneficial CCTVs can also be used to annoy and intrude on the privacy of neighbours. Not surprisingly, neighbourhood quarrels have begun to grow around their use. A Malaysian court heard one of the first cases of a dispute between neighbours arising from the use of CCTVs. In that case, differences between two neighbours which had gone on for several years, escalated when one neighbour set up five CCTV cameras around his house. A house owner has that right, but in this case, one of those cameras pointed directly at his adversary’s house. Police reports followed, and when that produced no satisfaction, the offended neighbour took his complaint to the court. His lawyer claimed that pointing the CCTV camera at his client’s house intruded on his client’s privacy and those living with him.
Malaysian courts were just beginning to recognize privacy as a protectable right in law at the time the action was brought. Although a clear definition of privacy had not yet been reached, the judge recognised that ‘the right to privacy is a fundamental human right.’ On the peculiar facts of the case before him, he said that ‘the right to privacy consists of the plaintiffs’ right to private and family life and home. This is a basic right and need which everyone cherishes and holds dear.’ The judge added that the well-known saying that a man’s home is his castle also holds true in this country. The judge found that subjecting a neighbour to continuous surveillance by pointing the CCTV at the neighbour ‘was demeaning to the neighbour.’
What about the neighbour’s right to install CCTV in his own house? The judge said that a balance must be struck between the right of the occupier to do what he likes on his own property with the right of the neighbour to have the privacy of his home and those living in it protected. From the facts of the case, the judge found that since there was no justification for pointing the CCTV at his neighbour’s house, the latter’s right to privacy prevailed.
The offending CCTV was ordered to be removed.
Malaysian courts now recognize a right to privacy in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration recognises that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
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