Complaint
A reader queried the accuracy of the article’s account of the legal issues in connection with filming people on smart glasses. In response, BBC news reworded the article to make clear that such filming would not necessarily breach data protection laws, but left unchanged a passage which said “Sales assistants at work would generally be considered to have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and for their consent for any use of film or photographs of them to be obtained before they are shared”. The reader asked the ECU to investigate the accuracy of this statement.
Outcome
Sales assistants engaged in intrinsically private activities would have some reasonable expectation of privacy, and Data Protection and Human Rights Laws give shopworkers some protection against the inappropriate sharing of personal information. Beyond those qualifications, however, there is no “reasonable expectation of privacy” as the article suggested, because a shop is a place accessible to the general public.
Upheld
Further action
The finding was reported to the management of BBC News and discussed with the editorial team concerned. The article was revised to reflect the finding
