Daily Tribune‘With the growing use of body-worn cameras across law enforcement, private security, and even digital content creation, we are entering a new era where the boundary between public safety, personal expression, and individual privacy is increasingly complex.’
As the country’s police force becomes more visible on the streets, with some officers using body cameras to document operations, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) reminded the Philippine National Police (PNP) to respect subjects’ data.
The NPC also included guidelines for vloggers who use body cameras.
Circular No. 2025-01, effective 10 June, outlines protocols for protecting data subjects’ data. It emphasizes the lawful basis for processing personal data, security measures, secure storage, safekeeping, access control and overall management of audio-visual recordings and metadata generated by the devices.
“With the growing use of body-worn cameras across law enforcement, private security, and even digital content creation, we are entering a new era where the boundary between public safety, personal expression, and individual privacy is increasingly complex,” said Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga.
“NPC Circular No. 2025-01 reflects our commitment to ensuring that technologies meant to enhance transparency and accountability do not come at the cost of unwarranted surveillance or intrusion of privacy,” he added.
Under the circular, law enforcement agencies are mandated to observe transparent, fair and lawful use of body-worn cameras, especially in sensitive operations such as the execution of warrants. Agencies must ensure proper authorization, clear retention policies and mechanisms for public access requests and complaints.
For vloggers and digital content creators, the circular clarifies that recording individuals in public or private settings, particularly when these recordings are uploaded, streamed or monetized, constitutes personal data processing.
As such, content creators must uphold the Data Privacy Act of 2012, ensuring that personal data processing activities are conducted fairly and lawfully and that affected data subjects are allowed to exercise their rights.
This includes providing adequate information to data subjects before any recording, having appropriate privacy notices on their platforms, masking images of data subjects as needed, and being responsive to takedown or privacy requests from featured individuals.
