I was quoted in an article entitled “CCTVs in cinema are legal, but…” the in Free Malaysia Today news portal on 21 March 2017. It was reported that Kuala Terengganu has finally had its first cinema in 20 years. However, CCTV cameras are installed in each of the cinema hall. The cameras will broadcast live the footage from the halls on a big screen placed at the cinema’s lobby.
The relevant extract from my statement is as follow:-
PETALING JAYA: If you’re a cinema owner and you’re subjecting your patrons to CCTV monitoring, you must get their consent before publicly displaying the footage.
Otherwise, you would run afoul of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), said lawyer Foong Cheng Leong in a comment on Lotus Five Star’s decision to monitor activities in the viewing hall of its cinema in Kuala Terengganu.
He said the monitoring was legal but the public display of footage required the consent of those affected.
“As long as people who go to the cinema know that they will be recorded and the recording will be publicly displayed, and they show agreement to this condition by buying tickets, then it’s okay,” he told FMT.He said the PDPA required a privacy notice to be published to tell moviegoers how the CCTV footage would be used.
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