Max days storage in your countries

[Razesdark 0]

So I spoke to a Milestone trainer who was from America himself who told me that America doesn't have any law that says how long you may hold your video storage.

That suprised me, as here in the Netherlands, it used to be 24 hours. Luckely they recently changed it.

We can now hold video for a period of 30 days.

 

So I was wondering, how long is the max period in the countries you all live in ?

[thewireguys 3]

I am in the US and he is correct we have no limit.... just the customers budget

[tomcctv 190]

Home systems have no limit but businesses are 21 to 31 days in the UK

[Securame 0]

30 days in Spain.

[groovyman 0]

So I spoke to a Milestone trainer who was from America himself who told me that America doesn't have any law that says how long you may hold your video storage.

That suprised me, as here in the Netherlands, it used to be 24 hours. Luckely they recently changed it.

We can now hold video for a period of 30 days.

 

So I was wondering, how long is the max period in the countries you all live in ?

Is the 30 days the maximum or minimum amount of time video can be stored? What sort of penalty is there for going under or over, and how would anyone know?

 

This seems strange to me. Why does a general law exist specifying how long video can or should be retained? Are there restirctions on quality settings also?

 

As others have stated, there is no restriction either way in the US. I have clients with DVRs that retain video anywhere from a low of 5 days to a high of 6 months.

[akelley 0]

Seems somewhat vague without specifying what the video contains. In the US there are privacy laws that depending on what is being recorded and where it is recorded, dictates what can be recorded, how long it can be stored (or how long it must be stored), and who is doing the recording/storing. For example, police surveillance that records public spaces have requirements around storage and access to archival video. There are federal guidelines around personally identifiable information as it pertains to data (DOB, SS#, medical data,etc.) which can also be applied to video when combinations of those data are recorded. At the state level it varies as to what can be recorded (i.e., audio) with the consent of those being recorded, but I'm not aware of any state statute that dictates how long a recording can be stored for private entities. There have been many cases where private citizens have been arrested for recording police , which the police claim is interfering with law enforcement. So in that case, you're not allowed to store it at all! It would seem to me that if that held legal precedent, then no one would be able to set up security cameras on the chance that they would capture police doing their work they don't want recorded.

 

I also believe that specific industries have their own requirements for how long video is stored, such as the casino/gaming industry, but can't point to specifics as I have never done any work in that industry.

 

I would be curious as to specifics around these laws in other countries, so please share if you can.

[KTurbo 0]

I am in the US and he is correct we have no limit.... just the customers budget

Sure, we have no rule to say how long we can keep old file. It depend on the number of camera that you have, the capacity of HDD and the quality of your video.

[thewireguys 3]

I am in the US and he is correct we have no limit.... just the customers budget

Sure, we have no rule to say how long we can keep old file. It depend on the number of camera that you have, the capacity of HDD and the quality of your video.

 

Isn't that what I said?

Edited July 2, 2012 by Guest

[Razesdark 0]

Is the 30 days the maximum or minimum amount of time video can be stored? What sort of penalty is there for going under or over, and how would anyone know?

 

This seems strange to me. Why does a general law exist specifying how long video can or should be retained? Are there restirctions on quality settings also?

 

As others have stated, there is no restriction either way in the US. I have clients with DVRs that retain video anywhere from a low of 5 days to a high of 6 months.

The 30 days is the maximum number of time you can store your video. As far as I know, there isn't a set number of time determined when you break that law, I recon it's up to the judge to determine that. And as for the question on how would they know ? Well I recon with all crimes, they need to find out themselves. There isn't an agency which actively checks if everyone lives up to the law. There is an agency at where you need to register your cameras in regards to privacy, but that isn't directly related to actually storing the video, as you need to register the camera's in all cases, even when you don't store the video.

 

Why they have the law, I recon it has somewhat to do with privacy. I don't see the effectiveness of it much, but seeing the history of laws we had here in Holland in regards to new technology, this doesn't suprise me so much.

Also, no restrictions on quality either. We even had police commissioners complaining on TV that most CCTV have crappy quality and are rarely usuable due to poor image quality.

 

 

We do have rules when it comes to audio. Afaik, no duration on how long you can store it, but the most important rule we have is that you cannot store audio as long as you aren't a part of the confersation. Meaning we can't store audio with CCTV camera's as you are never part of the conversations.

So far they haven't combined CCTV laws with other data being stored. I'm not quite sure if they really need to.

 

There have been many cases where private citizens have been arrested for recording police , which the police claim is interfering with law enforcement. So in that case, you're not allowed to store it at all! It would seem to me that if that held legal precedent, then no one would be able to set up security cameras on the chance that they would capture police doing their work they don't want recorded.

The part about not being able to record police actions sounds tad too 'Police state' for my likings. I would love to see a lawyer try to pull that stunt in one of our courts.

[groovyman 0]

Thanks Razesdark. Appreciate your reply.

 

As for private citizens being arrested for recording police, here in the US it's been happening. Here's an article on the subject: http://gizmodo.com/5900680/7-rules-for-recording-police

[MaxIcon 0]

There is an agency at where you need to register your cameras in regards to privacy, but that isn't directly related to actually storing the video, as you need to register the camera's in all cases, even when you don't store the video..

 

So, all videocams need to be registered with the government? That seems a bit extreme!

 

Is this for analog and IP cams both, and does it also include webcams, cell phones, digicams, etc? The line between dedicated surveillance cams and consumer recording devices is blurring, it seems, and some people use webcams for surveillance.

 

 

The part about not being able to record police actions sounds tad too 'Police state' for my likings. I would love to see a lawyer try to pull that stunt in one of our courts.

 

I don't think these cases hold up in court, but that doesn't stop the police from trying.