Drivers in France ‘Strongly Advised’ to Avoid Dashboard Cameras
upstart writes:
Sales of dashcams are starting to take off in France, with most car-parts shops offering models from 50, but their use falls into a legal grey area. Exact figures are hard to come by, but a survey in 2015 estimated there were at least 300,000 dashcams bought in France that year.
It is now not uncommon to see the cameras in cars parked on the street, even in small rural towns. Some even have features that set off the camera if anyone is close to the parked car, or if the car is touched by another vehicle. Images are usually sent to the owner's smartphone, where they can then be stored.
[...] France has very strict privacy laws, and among them is a law that states that while it is legal to film or photograph people in public spaces in France, you cannot use the images without the express consent of all the people who might be identified, either through their features or through the car they drive.
Obviously, people who have recorded someone driving into their car, or filmed another driver being aggressive towards them, will want to use the images, but doing so can be complicated.
Some years ago, the German insurance company Allianz, which has a big presence in the French market, offered a discount to clients who used dashcams. Now the company seems to have removed the offer.
Similarly, carmaker Citroen, which offers dashcams as factory-fitted options on new C3 and C4 models, went silent when asked how the images they record might be used.
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