Re: Surely they have to go shopping?
I think the principle is that, in public, it is legal to film people doing public things. It is not legal to film in private property without the consent of those involved. What constitutes "public" and "private" is probably a bit of a grey area. For example, try filming in a public toilet, and see how long before you, rightfully, get into some serious trouble.
The right to photograph, and film in public includes filming the police, although they'll probably get shirty with you and try to stop you, despite having no legal grounds to do so.
The principle, as I understand it, really is that if you can legally see it, you can legally film it.
Audio, on the other hand is another matter. If you stand next to a couple having a conversation in public and eavesdrop on them, they will most likely become aware of it, and move away, or give you some choice words. If you use a long-range microphone to do the same, it's pretty clearly listening in on something that is private.
There is a reasonable expectation that if you are talking to someone and there is nobody else in the immediate vicinity, then that conversation is private.
IANAL, of course, but I think the principles here are pretty clear.
FWIW, I don't think most CCTV cameras record audio. Image the poor bastard in the control room for a town centre's public CCTV trying to make sense of the Friday night cacophony if they did. They're there to provide evidence of who hit whom with a glass bottle in which kebab queue.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
