As the UK currently has more CCTV cameras per person than anywhere else in the world, the government has charged the Information Commissioner's Office with the role of upholding data protection and monitoring privacy issues.

In carrying out this duty they have implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) of 1998 and given guidance in the form of the "CCTV Code of Practice". The CCTV Code of Practice gives the owners of CCTV on commercial properties guidance on how to process and store any data (in this case CCTV footage and images) gathered on a particular person.

The code is designed to help inspire public confidence that CCTV is being used responsibly.

On buying a 'Who is watching me?' sign or sticker, the owner of the CCTV system is supplied with a unique serial number/ID on each and instructions on how to use this.

The website stores the details supplied by the CCTV system owner against the serial numbers of the signs that they have bought and registered.

A member of the public passing the sign or sticker has the opportunity to find out more details and even contact the scheme operator by inputting the unique serial number into the Who Is Watching Me? Search Tool.