Kerre Woodham: Privacy law a block to reason

In an ideal world, we would live in harmony, free from want and free from crime. Nobody would break the commandments because nobody would be hungry, avaricious, hooked on drugs or born bad.

However, New Zealand is part of the global community in 2005 and that means crime is a symptom of our times. It doesn't mean we have to put up with it. Coert and Jenny Vorster didn't.

When their beautiful waterfront home became the target for vandals and thieves, they installed security cameras that would scan the outside of their property. The neighbours didn't mind - they were sick of the vandals too and they felt safer having the cameras there. But the North Shore City Council has decreed that the cameras must go, because the Vorsters didn't apply for council consent to install them, and, in a move of breathtaking hypocrisy, have cited "privacy issues".

The privacy laws are the most overused and oft-cited pieces of misunderstood, nebulous, wishy washy legislation that exist in the country today. What the hell are the privacy laws, anyway? The only time they're ever invoked is when people want to be obstructive and obtuse. And who on earth would think that walking along a public footpath would grant you the right to privacy? There are cameras in all the main streets, in shops, banks, libraries - they're everywhere.

I certainly wouldn't do the things I do in private on a public street, which you'll be grateful to know. I'm glad someone's taking the initiative to make it hard for these ferret-faced petty thieves - there's something so cheap and mean about vandals. The police don't have the resources to stop them, and the council doesn't have the will. Should people not be able to protect themselves and their private property?