‘Improper’ to film students using toilet
School responds to concerns, saying cameras were incorrectly positioned
Acivil liberties campaigner says it “would be completely improper” if students at a Northland school were filmed using the toilet. It would breach the students’ right to privacy, lawyer Michael Bott said.
His comments followed revelations that two surveillance cameras were fitted in the Year 9-11 girls’ and boys’ toilets at Tauraroa Area School, about 25km south of Whanga¯rei, last week.
Principal Grant Burns said in an email seen by the Herald that the cameras were mistakenly fixed inside the toilets rather than at their entrances, where they would have overlooked a nearby area containing student lockers.
“I have already let a number of staff, parents and students know this. Steps have already been put in place to remedy this,” he wrote.
A Privacy Commissioner spokesman did not wish to comment on the school’s cameras but agreed a school’s surveillance cameras should not “be collecting images of people half undressed, sitting on a toilet”.
However, schools might be able to
rrfix cameras in toilets in areas where people were not getting undressed if they had “strong justification” to do so. This might include cases where there was concern over sexual or physical assaults and vandalism.
However, Year 11 student Aart Lewis said students had felt “pretty disgusted because, in the boys’ toilets, [the camera] looks straight on to the urinal. And the girls’ toilets, they all get changed for netball and afterschool sports in those toilets.”
He said it was baffling how the mistake had occurred.
“Surely the people installing it would question if it was meant to go in the bathrooms or not because it is not really right,” he said.
He felt the school was then slow to respond to student concerns.
While students quickly reported the cameras to teachers last week, Lewis did not hear the school make a public statement about fixing the situation until Friday.
Students had kept covering the camera in the boys’ toilet with paper, but this was removed at least three times by staff, he said.
By yesterday, the school had posted a note on its website advising of the mistake.
“Please be aware that security cameras have been installed incorrectly near the main senior toilets,” the statement said. “These are going to be relocated as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.”
In a 2013 Privacy Commission case, a pub agreed to remove surveillance cameras from its toilets after a man complained they interfered with his privacy.
While the commission agreed most cameras in the pub were reasonable
ameasures to ensure safety, it found no clear purpose for the toilet camera.
“We considered that a camera placed in the men’s toilet area was capturing highly sensitive information in an unreasonably intrusive manner,” the commission report said.
Tauraroa Area School runs classes for students from Year 1 through to Year 13. Lewis said the toilets with the cameras were mainly used by Years 9-11 and sometimes Years 7-8.
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