Home cameras and data protection

The ICO's home CCTV guide is written for the public, not for shops installing a system at work. It is the right official page for a pet camera, a baby monitor pointed at a window, or a doorbell. The ICO says the page is under review because of the Data (Use and Access) Act and may change. This note follows the page as it stood on 14 November 2026.

Images and voices

The ICO says CCTV can capture images and voices of other people, and that this counts as their personal information. A pet camera with a microphone is not only a picture of a dog. If that microphone picks up a neighbour's voice beyond your boundary, the page treats the recording as personal information.

The rules the ICO lists for capture outside the boundary are to have a clear reason, not to capture more than you need, to let people know with a sign or similar, to provide recordings in most cases when a captured person asks, to delete footage regularly or automatically or both, and to stop if someone objects and you have no legitimate reason to continue.

Storage has to be secure, and the ICO's template letter says footage should only be accessible to people who need it. Sharing a clip in a group chat is a further use. The page does not bless that. It says you should not capture more than you need.

Requests, objections, complaints

The ICO says you can ask for a copy of footage you are in. That is a subject access request. You can ask for deletion, which the page calls the right to erasure, and it recommends explaining why. You can object. The owner must have a strong reason to keep recording you after an objection. In most instances the owner should respond within one calendar month. If they cannot, the template letter asks them to say when they will.

Section 165 of the Data Protection Act 2018 is cited on the page as the duty on the ICO to consider complaints from people who believe their data protection rights have been infringed. The ICO describes its current complaint handling as focused on cases where there is serious harm and where it can help organisations improve. It says harm is judged on a scale, and the depth of an investigation varies.

What the ICO says it cannot or will not usually do is remove the camera, force it to be moved, fetch the footage, force deletion, or sue the owner for you. A complaint is not a removal order.

A camera is not a welfare device

Watching a dog is a reason many people give. The ICO's examples of a legitimate reason are about protecting people, family and property, and about crime prevention. A camera does not feed, water or exercise an animal. Those needs sit in section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for England and Wales: a suitable environment, a suitable diet, the ability to show normal behaviour, housing with or apart from other animals as needed, and protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease. A live view is not one of those needs. The RSPCA's rescue-dog guide mentions a house camera as an optional item for dogs learning to stay at home alone. It does not say a camera replaces company or exercise.

If the camera is mains-powered, a power cut ends the picture. Plan for the animal, not for the stream. What happens in a power cut is the short version.

Does the ICO ban indoor pet cameras?

The page tells owners to position cameras so they capture only their own property where possible. The data protection duties it spells out are for capture of other people beyond the boundary, including sound. An indoor camera that films only your pet is the arrangement the page is steering people towards.

How long can I keep the clips?

The ICO says delete footage regularly or automatically, or both. It does not publish a single number of days for a home pet camera. "Keep it all, just in case" is the opposite of that instruction.

Who do I complain to?

The ICO page suggests speaking to the camera owner first, and it explains how to complain to the ICO afterwards. It also says the police are the contact if you believe a child is being recorded inappropriately, and for violence or harassment that is more than the camera itself.

Sources

• Home CCTV systems — Information Commissioner's Office, accessed 14 November 2026.
• Animal Welfare Act 2006, section 9 — legislation.gov.uk, accessed 14 November 2026.
• Getting ready for your RSPCA rescue dog — RSPCA, accessed 14 November 2026.