Is it illegal to access and view surveillance footage without permission?

It should be treated according to the situation: if the monitoring of one's own family is not illegal or criminal, this is a punishment of one's own rights;However, if it is to obtain and view the surveillance video of others or public areas without permission, it may be suspected of violating the law, and if it is processed and sold, it is suspected of a crime.

Videos recording the portraits or private information of others contain the privacy of others, and if they are accessed and viewed without the consent of others, it violates the privacy rights of others, according to Article 111 of the Civil Code, "citizens' personal information is protected by law." Where any organization or individual needs to obtain the personal information of others, it shall obtain it in accordance with law and ensure the security of the information, and must not illegally collect, use, process, or transmit the personal information of others, and must not illegally buy, sell, provide, or disclose the personal information of others."

Even if it is necessary for the public interest, access to and view the surveillance footage must be in accordance with the legal procedures and provide corresponding procedures, otherwise it is illegal to use the relevant functional departments.

Nowadays, there are many units or individuals who install surveillance videos, and it is normal for monitoring managers to view them. As for the judicial organs' monitoring and private inspection, it is a violation of the provisions, but it does not involve the modification of the monitoring content, and it cannot constitute an illegal act. As for those involved in secrets, it should be treated differently.

Legal Analysis: Illegal. If the content of the video is not theirs, it cannot be accessed by individual citizens.

If the person or unit in possession of the surveillance video agrees to others to obtain it, it is suspected of infringing on citizens' personal information, and citizens are also suspected of violating citizens' personal information if they leak content after retrieving it. The surveillance footage in the public area is managed by ** or the public utility department, and is not the content of ** public, and individuals do not have the right to access it at will.

Legal basis: Article 1033 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China Except as otherwise provided by law or with the explicit consent of the right holder, no organization or individual may carry out the following acts: (1) Disturbing the tranquility of others' private lives by means such as **, text messages, instant messengers, e-mails, leaflets, etc.;(2) Entering, photographing, or peeping into other people's residences, hotel rooms, or other private spaces;(3) Photographing, peeping, eavesdropping, or disclosing the private activities of others;(4) Photographing or peeping at the intimate parts of another person's body;(5) Handling the private information of others;(6) Infringing on the privacy rights of others in other ways.

Legal analysis: If the content of the video is not his/her own, the individual citizen cannot access it. If the person or unit in possession of the surveillance video agrees to others to obtain it, it is suspected of infringing on citizens' personal information, and citizens are also suspected of violating citizens' personal information if they leak content after retrieving it.

The surveillance video in the public area is managed by the ** or the public utilities department, not the content of the ** public, the individual has no right to access it at will If it is a monitoring facility set up by the public security organs, then it should be retrieved from the local 110 command center, and the individual cannot ask them to provide, and the application should be submitted to the relevant departments.

Legal basis: "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 64: "Evidence that a people's court finds necessary for the trial of a case" refers to the following situations: (1) involving facts that may harm the interests of the state, the public interest, or the lawful rights and interests of others, and (2) involving procedural matters unrelated to substantive disputes, such as adding parties ex officio, suspending litigation, terminating litigation, and recusal.

Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Evidence in Civil Proceedings》 Article 17: Where any of the following conditions are met, the parties and their litigants may apply to the people's court to investigate and collect evidence: (1) The evidence applied for investigation and collection is archival materials kept by the relevant state departments and must be collected by the people's court ex officio, (2) Materials involving state secrets, commercial secrets, or personal privacy, and (3) other materials that the parties and their litigants are truly unable to collect on their own for objective reasons.

If the content of the video is not theirs, it cannot be accessed by individual citizens. If the person or unit in possession of the surveillance video agrees to others to obtain it, it is suspected of infringing on citizens' personal information, and citizens are also suspected of violating citizens' personal information if they leak content after retrieving it. The surveillance video in the public area is managed by the ** or the public Iwano business department, not the ** public internal reform of the jujube slow capacity, individuals do not have the right to arbitrarily access it If it is a monitoring facility set up by the public security organs, then it should be retrieved from the local 110 command center, and individuals cannot ask them to provide, and the application should be submitted to the relevant nuclear model department.

Individual citizens, through the statutory approval procedures, may inquire into the personal information of other citizens; If an individual makes an inquiry without the statutory approval procedure, it must be an illegal act.

Legal basis: Article 1032 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China Natural persons enjoy the right to privacy. The privacy rights of others must not be infringed upon by any organization or individual by means such as espionage, invasion, leakage, or disclosure.

Privacy refers to the tranquility of a natural person's private life and the private space, private activities, and private information that he or she does not want others to know.