Provincial Privacy Commissioner OKs TTC Security Camera Plan
Posted March 3, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A TTC plan to install security cameras in its vehicles doesn’t break provincial privacy laws.
However Ontario’s privacy commissioner Anne Cavoukian suggests more should be done to make sure riders’ privacy is protected. The Toronto Transit Commission intends to install 10,000 cameras on its buses, subways and streetcars, a plan Cavoukian studied for four months following a complaint by London-based organization Privacy International.
Privacy International claimed last fall that the transit commission couldn’t justify why it needed to install the $21 million security system and that there was no public interest in it.
“The area is such a huge issue to grapple with. On its face, it’s inherently privacy invasion, due to the potential data capture. Despite that fact, there are legitimate uses for surveillance cameras, especially in the broader context of the public safety and security needs of mass transit system that render their use in compliance with our privacy laws,” Cavoukian said at a news conference Monday.
“That is my primary finding. I have found that the TTC’s expansion of its video surveillance system is in compliance with Ontario’s municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”
Cavoukian made several recommendations, among them that the TTC keep video images for a maximum of 72 hours unless required for an investigation.
The new video system is expected to be up and running by the summer of 2009.
Here are some of Anne Cavoukian’s recommendations:
- Keep surveillance for a maximum 72 hours unless needed for an investigation
- Audit surveillance system annually to ensure privacy compliance
- Keep detailed logs of footage handed over to police
- Explore new technology that encrypts images for unauthorized users
- Put up signs notifying commuters they are under surveillance
Source: Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
