The use of speed cameras to catch drivers without motor tax and insurance could lead to a surveillance society, the Data Protection Commissioner warned today.
The Department of Transport is planning to extend the use of the countrywide network of cameras, but Data Protection Commissioner Joe Meade said he was concerned that further uses of speed cameras could follow.
Data Protection Commissioner Joe Meade
"My main concern is that it was speed first, now it's tax, will it be location later? Or will there be a central database of every car that passes through a particular speed camera and will it be kept ad infinitum?" said Mr Meade.
The commissioner has told the Department of Transport that data from speeding cameras can only be legally used for speeding offences under Section 21 of the Road Traffic Act 2002. New legislation would be required for the cameras to gather data on car tax and insurance offences.
Mr Meade said he was in favour of detecting motor tax and insurance offences with adequate control. "This has to be publicly debated and there has to be controls in place to ensure it's limited as much as possible," he said.
He was speaking following the publication of the commission's annual report, which found that complaints are on the increase. The number of new complaints formally processed increased to 385 in 2004, compared to 258 the previous year and 78 in 1998.
Direct marketing accounted for 42 per cent of complaints to the commission in 2004. Some 131 (27 per cent) of these related unsolicited marketing - mainly to mobile phones. Nearly half of these related to three marketing campaigns run by two companies.
Mr Meade said he was disappointed communications regulator, ComReg and phone companies had not set up a national directory database that would allow people to opt out from receiving unsolicited direct marketing calls.
"After a lot of consultation with this office, agreement was reached last July but so far the directory database has not appeared and therefore people are getting unwanted phone calls and this office is getting lots of complaints," he said.
The report showed the second most complained of area, at 27 per cent, concerned the right of access to data. Complaints about the fair obtaining of personal information and disclosure of personal data to third parties were the next most common issue of complaint together totalling 18 per cent.
Some 13 per cent of complaints concerned the financial services sector; the telecommunications/IT sectors accounted for 10 per cent; and the direct marketing sector accounted for 21 per cent of complaints.
The public services and central and local government accounted for 13 per cent of complaints, and a review carried out by the commission of 240 state sector websites found "the majority of them had either no or inadequate privacy statements".
Mr Meade said in today's report the finding was "alarming" but that he was "heartened that matters are being addressed".
He also indicated he would await expected developments in defamation laws and regulation of the media before engaging in a consultation process if a data protection code of conduct were required in the sector.
Additional reporting PA