DPA case 2020010548 – Complaint Upheld (Iceland, 2020)

The DPA received a complaint regarding electronic monitoring in an apartment building in Kópavogur. The complaint stated, among other things, that her neighbor, also a resident of the building, had installed numerous cameras in the windows of his apartment and in a car. They were directed, among other things, to the complainant's parking space and a bedroom window of her apartment. She demanded to remove the cameras immediately. It is said that the neighbor published the recorded footage of the surveillance cameras, without consent, on social media. The DPA established that the processing of the personal data in question cannot be considered to concern only private interests of the responsible party or be intended for his personal use. According to the DPA, the responsible party had not demonstrated the imminent danger to him or his property or the need to monitor areas outside his own private property, ie. areas that belong to common property or are considered private property of other residents of the house. The DPA called the responsible party to refrain from all electronic monitoring which targets the common property and private property of other residents, delete all footage collected to this day and delete relevant content posted in social media.