When is the UK going to get someone in government or a government appointed office who doesn't have the "lack of forethought" gene or is at the very least qualified to hold the position?

If the Info Comm Office are truly sincere I hope the code of practice comes to stipulate "also restricted from viewing CCTV footage are persons who by either accident or birth are rendered without ability to process audio information through naturally occurring orifices known by the physiological term; ears.”

And

“further pursuant to the restrictions of audio recording by CCTV equipment barring exceptional circumstance any persons promoting, backing or partaking in software development focused on retrieving audio information from audio-less formats will be hung drawn and quartered.”

Let us not forget the Reg article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/28/intel_gives_away_lipreading_speech/

And the ALR (Automatic Lip Reading) system developed by Frank Hubner which has successfully been used to add sound to Hitler’s silent home movies: see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/22/nhitler22.xml

If I wanted a know nothing bonzo leadership I would have voted for one… bugger.

Given the huge number of ethnic groups in the UK, I wonder how many operators they would need to cover even the "most interesting" languages.

Apropos Mouth in gear .... are there any giudelines about not interpreting sign-language used by the deaf people who inevitably appear on CCTV?

hmmm, if recording audio is "highly intrusive" then recording video must be more so. We need new legislation. Recording CCTV should be allowed as long as no-one watches it (blind people would obviously be exempt). The same could go for audio. Audio on CCTV should be allowed to be recorded, providing no-one is allowed to listen to it (unless they're deaf). This way everyones rights are observed/absurd

"the ICO is encouraging organisations to carry out an impact assessment to determine whether CCTV is justified, how it will be operated, and what effect CCTV may have on individuals"

Only several hundred thousand cameras too late, mate.

based upon my experience I'd rather have cameras everywhere (with audio) and this would include covert. screw them all. it be the only way real indisputable evidence can be used time after time to catch crooks and pin them down. not that they'll get more than a few slaps on the wrist if they do anything.