Solihull school installs CCTV in children's toilets

9th March 2010 17:21 | by Andrew Robinson

While catching up on local news, I was shocked to read that a school near my home town of Worcester has installed CCTV in the children's toilets.

I wasn't shocked that it happened, because I have read so many stories recently about people in low level positions of authority who assume they have a 'right to spy' that trumps any else's right to privacy. What shocked me was the headline itself. It didn't say "Headmaster arrested for installing CCTV in children's toilets", or "Headmaster resigns after being caught installing CCTV in children's toilets." It didn't even say "Headmaster apologises after installing CCTV in children's toilets." Instead the headline was a plain and unadorned "Chelmsley Wood school puts CCTV in pupil toilets."

It's time for us to decide what sort of world we want our children to grow up in. Do we want them to learn by example that privacy is not a basic human right, or a guiding principle that the law proudly upholds, but a forgotten dream? Or is it time to say enough is enough?

We are in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance state. The school may not have broken any law, but that does not mean that we must accept this as just the latest step in the unstoppable erosion of our right to privacy. I believe it means that a law that sets reasonable, clearly defined limits on this sort of spying is long overdue. Unless we have that law, we will be powerless against the likes of Steve Chase, chief executive of Grace Academy, and his omnipresent cameras. He said, with no hint of sarcasm that the Sunday Mercury mentioned in their report, that the cameras were fitted 'due to health and safety concerns'.

I believe that we need to protect our children from the likes of Steve Chase. If you believe that too, then it's time to vote Pirate.

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6 comments

Mar 09 2010 05:03 by Sharkz
I find this quite sickening... CCTV in Toilets!? Too far...
Mar 09 2010 06:03 by kevinmcdonagh
I was seriously injured in a school toilet when I was a child and I'll bet this is the defense used for the CCTV. But children can hurt them selves anywhere! We don't need CCTV all down every side street to try and mitigate this risk because a camera is not a replacement for someone actually being there. It is unlikely this footage will be kept long and there are more possibilities for it to be misused than used for the aid of children. Councils should start using some common sense instead of getting trapped up in procedures. I absolutely do not approve of this.
Mar 09 2010 06:03 by rakiru
I agree with sharkz. This is quite sickening. What's next? When will the majority of the British public draw the line? If things like this keep happening, small steps towards a surveillance state, a totalitarian government, then we are very likely to suddenly wake up and wonder how we got there.
Mar 09 2010 06:03 by cabalamat
rakiru wrote: When will the majority of the British public draw the line? If things like this keep happening, small steps towards a surveillance state, a totalitarian government, then we are very likely to suddenly wake up and wonder how we got there.


We'll end up with a telescreen in every room, that you can't turn off, monitoring you at all time. In the past, dictators might have wanted to do this, but the technology wasn't advanced enough for it to be practical. Now the technology is advanced enough and if we don't watch out, we'll end up with a panopticon singularity.

This needs to be stopped. It's a large part of why we need a Pirate Party, as important in my view as reforming copyright and patent law.
Mar 09 2010 07:03 by rancidpunk
Lunatics are running the asylum.
Mar 09 2010 08:03 by Duke
rancidpunk wrote: Lunatics are running the asylum.

No, bureaucrats and lawyers are running the asylum; if lunatics were doing so things would be a lot more fun.
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