An individual made a complaint against a parish church regarding the processing of the individual’s personal data arising from the live streaming and recording of a family member’s funeral service that the individual had attended. The individual also complained about a lack of transparency that the recording was taking place.

The individual complained to the DPC about the parish church’s response to their concern around the use of live streaming and recording for funeral services. In our examination of the complaint, the DPC engaged with the parish church to ascertain their lawful basis for processing and for clarification on their response to the data complaint. The parish church informed the DPC that live streaming of funeral services was used during Covid-19 restrictions and that they record funeral services when requested to do so by family members, which did happen in this complaint, usually when one cannot attend the funeral. The parish church informed the DPC they use one camera in a fixed location to make these recordings and for live streaming. The parish church removes the recordings from their website at the end of 30 days.

The parish church apologised to the individual for any distress caused and particularly for not informing the individual of the 30 days only retention period. The parish church informs attendees at the beginning of services that they will be live streamed and have signs with this information at their entrance doors. The parish church implemented changes because of this complaint, including informing attendees during a service that it is being live streamed, including information on their live streaming and recording in parish newsletters and on their website, only responding to written requests for recordings and password protecting the recordings in future.

The DPC wrote to the individual and advised them under section 109(5)(c) of the 2018 Act that the parish church and those unable to attend a funeral service had a legitimate interest to view the service by live stream or recording. The DPC noted the 30-day retention period of the footage, the fixed restricted view of the camera and the changes the parish church had made arising from this complaint, including requiring a request for recording to be made in writing and password protecting these recordings. The DPC advised the individual that the response of the parish church was reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint and noted that the recording was requested by another family member of the deceased. Nevertheless, the DPC recommended under section 109(5)(f) of the 2018 Act that the parish church update the privacy policy available on its website with more information on the live streaming and recording of funeral services.