Video surveillance in the forest? West Altmarkers are concerned about the signage for private forests in the unified municipality of Salzwedel.
Cheine l going for a walk in the forest for the purpose of recreation: the legislature makes this possible for everyone. It doesn’t matter who owns the space. Enjoy nature with all your senses and not harm it, that should be the principle of every hiker.
Data protection officer
But you get a queasy feeling when you suddenly discover cameras while walking. A citizen complained about this at the end of June when he noticed such devices in Buchhorst near Cheine, Inka Ludwig from the press team of the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel informed the Volksstimme when asked. The environmental agency forwarded the fact to the state commissioner for data protection of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. “At the time there were no video surveillance signs as they are now,” she adds. Inka Ludwig explains that the city forest is now also marked. This became known through a request from a citizen.
Both forest areas were sold by the city. The owners would live in North Rhine-Westphalia. Therefore, the processes were forwarded to the local state commissioner for data protection, as this represents the responsible supervisory authority.
In certain cases, video surveillance is entirely possible. This right is granted in the General Data Protection Regulation and in the Federal Data Protection Act. “There it is regulated that the person responsible for this video surveillance must be identifiable in a suitable form. Further information about the purpose of the monitoring and its technical and organizational implementation can be obtained there, ”explains the press officer. If such a label is missing, a complaint can be made to the responsible supervisory authority, the State Commissioner for Data Protection Saxony-Anhalt, Leiterstrasse 9 in 39410 Magdeburg. “The Altmarkkreis is not the competent supervisory authority for data protection in other public and non-public bodies,” the district continues.
Walking in the private forest is allowed
Anyone who sees such a sign must assume that video recordings of the area are possible, possibly saved or transmitted and possibly also available on the Internet. “Without precise information from the person responsible, this should also be assumed,” says Inka Ludwig.
Even in the private forest, everyone in Altmärk can relax and enter it. “As a rule, a route command applies here. A closure of the open landscape is only permitted temporarily, for example to carry out silvicultural measures or to practice hunting, ”informs the district spokeswoman.
“Cameras installed in the Buchhorst should make it possible to take action against people who repeatedly brought rubbish or environmentally hazardous waste into the forest,” said Franz Hinkers, lawyer for the forest owners. In addition, motorized vehicles caused unrest. Property damage had occurred. “It can be seen that there has been an improvement in the recent past that benefits the forest,” said the lawyer. He points out that no video recordings are made, but pictures. The signs would serve as information. “Collected data are regularly evaluated and – if insignificant – deleted immediately. In principle, no data is passed on, ”emphasizes Franz Hinkers.
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