Redditer: Is it illegal? - Hidden CCTVs in Office Space

[Tragedeigh]

Is it illegal? - Hidden CCTVs in Office Space​

General

My office, which is an SME, had a CCTV camera that management had repeatedly described as a dummy camera, supposedly placed only as a symbolic or “provoking” gesture. Because of this assurance, none of us believed that actual surveillance was taking place.

However, last week, a colleague and I accidentally discovered two concealed cameras within the office. One was positioned directly above my desk, and the other was placed on top of a cabinet behind where I sit. It later became clear that these were not dummy cameras.

lI was never informed that I was being recorded, let alone by cameras placed so closely and directly around my personal workspace.

What makes this even more troubling is that I am the only female employee in a male-dominated workplace, and there have been previous incidents of sexual harassment involving a former colleague. Given this history, the presence and placement of hidden cameras feels extremely invasive and alarming.

I am struggling to understand whether such hidden surveillance is allowed, and more importantly, why it was deemed necessary to conceal these cameras instead of being transparent with employees.

Edit: On top of that, I was told that apparently in Singapore you need to register or have a valid licence to set up CCTV (or something like that), and because they felt it was a long and troublesome process, they didn’t go ahead with the “dummy” ones and instead chose to install hidden cameras without our knowledge.