‘Opt in’ urged for phone tracking

The Victorian government was told an opt-in process was preferable when tracking phones.

Melbourne public transport users Decklan Saunders and Amelie McIntosh outside Flinders Street railway station. Picture: Aaron Francis

Victoria’s privacy regulator raised concerns several months ago about people’s mobile phone data being harvested by the state government, saying an “opt-in” process was preferable.

But privacy and data protection deputy commissioner Rachel Dixon said the Department of Transport instead gave assurances that people could opt-out of the data collection instead.

The government was yesterday forced to defend the plan to collect data from mobile phones, apps and GPS devices and use it to see where people are travelling to and from, after The Australian ­reported on the proposal.

The move, intended to improve the transport system, has been criticised, with concerns raised about the storage of data.

Ms Dixon said the department sought advice from the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner earlier this year, and had “taken all of our comments under consideration”.

“We did raise the issue of consent and whether or not somebody could meaningfully opt out,” Ms Dixon said. “They are assuring us that if someone wants not to be included in that dataset that they can actually do that … (but) it’s less attractive than ‘yes, I am positively accepting that I am opting in’.”

She said the department also gave assurances that the identity of people being tracked would be masked — including by grouping five people’s journeys into a single unit of data — and that people not using transport would not have their data stored. The department also said the information would not be released “in the raw”.

Ms Dixon said the OVIC understood the government needed to collect data to inform policies, but that such information should be protected.

“Based on the information we have received, we are not particularly alarmed by this proposal,” she said.

Acting Transport Infrastructure Minister Melissa Horne yesterday said people could disable their device’s GPS service if they did not want the government to collect their data.

Fellow frontbencher Martin Foley said the collection of such data “is a process that is used globally” and had been used previously when planning a road-widening project.

“We’ve got some of the toughest privacy laws in the country … people can always turn off their location services if they want to,” Ms Horne said.

Acting Premier Lisa Neville said the privacy commissioner examined risks when it came to concerns of privacy invasion.

“This is about de-identified information about where people are travelling, and it’s about making sure we get Melbourne moving. That’s what it’s about,” Ms Neville said.

“There’s strong privacy rules in Victoria, they apply for any of these scenarios.”

But Greens state transport spokesman Sam Hibbins said the government needed to be clear on exactly what data would be harvested and where it could end up.

At Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station yesterday, train user Amelie McIntosh said the plan amounted to an invasion of privacy and that she did not trust the Andrews government with her data. Fellow commuter Declan Saunders said of the need for transport information: “While this may be the easiest way to do it, I think there might be ways that might be more ethical — like surveys or interviews.”