Transport bosses dismiss privacy concerns over automatic toll system at new Hong Kong tunnel, saying drivers’ personal data will only be kept for 30 days
- Undersecretary says data collected at Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel will only be used if driver disputes a charge
- Automatic system will also see cameras take picture of rear number plate, but not of drivers or their passengers
Hong Kong’s senior transport officials have brushed off privacy concerns over a new automatic tolling system at a tunnel linking Lam Tin and Tseung Kwan O, saying drivers’ personal information would be deleted within 30 days.
On Friday, Raymond So Wai-man, undersecretary for transport and housing, said the government strictly complied with the policy governing the use of personal data and would only keep the information in case drivers disputed whether they had used the tunnel.
“We would keep the information for around 30 days, but the main goal is not for keeping personal details,” he said.
So said if there was no disagreement over the charge, the data would be discarded, something he said was common practice.
The undersecretary’s comments came at a Legislative Council’s transport panel meeting where lawmakers aired concerns over the new tolling scheme at the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel, which is expected to open in 2021, and charge HK$3 per trip.
Under the automatic system, drivers will be issued a sticker tag which is to be placed on the windscreen, next to the rear-view mirror.
The tag will allow equipment outside the tunnel to register when a vehicle passes through, and will deduct money from a driver’s account.
The sticker tag is expected to cost around HK$15.5 (US$2) each and will last for more than seven years. Officials have said the first tag a driver gets will be free of charge.
Cameras will also read number plates of cars using the tunnel, should the sticker tags fail to register.
Neo-Democrats legislator Gary Fan Kwok-wai said the system had some residents worried the government would collect more personal data from drivers than it actually needed.
Government planning a new electronic tolling system for all its tunnels by 2023
Council Front lawmaker Au Nok-hin expressed similar concerns and said if the tunnel was free to use, “then you will have no worries over privacy”.
But, transport sector lawmaker Frankie Yick Chi-ming said the system’s cameras would only take a picture of the rear number plate if it could not register the sticker tag, so it would not capture the faces of the driver or passengers.
The new system is expected to cost HK$330.2 million (US$42 million) to install, and the government will invite tenders for operating it.
The government plans to roll out the same system in eight of its tunnels two or three years after the opening of the new tunnel. So said it was considering implementing it next at the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel.
Stella Lee Yim-fong, assistant commissioner at the Transport Department, said the government’s studies showed the data collected by sensors in cars and facilities on roads would not cause personal privacy problems.
But, as the back-end computer system would handle drivers’ personal details, she said the department was studying how to reduce the risks of the data falling into the wrong hands.
