Some months ago I read Fefe’s notice in his blog, suggesting to use the massive camera surveillance in the UK in order to request CCTV images from institutions or companies, instead of being disturbed all the time by taking own photos on vacations in England. UK’s Data Protection Act states that people are allowed to request CCTV footages of themselves.

I got inspired by this idea and I was just generally interested if the process of requesting information really works, how complicated it is, and so on. When I was visiting with my English friend the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the ideal place to keep our vacation memories was found.

First, I called the company operating the CCTV. The name and contact details were written on the sign visible in the background of the footage, where we walk at the end of the video to read them. The friendly operator told me he was not aware of any regulations that would allow them to hand over video material. So I wrote a letter, as described on the government page, providing all necessary information and referencing the Data Protection Act. This worked out extremely well: one month later, without any further hassle or charges, we received a CD with the video in the post.