Vic: Strict privacy measures for taxi spycams, says minister

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2001
Vic: Strict privacy measures for taxi spycams, says minister

MELBOURNE, Dec 6 AAP - Stringent privacy measures would make it impossible for unscrupulous
cabbies using new taxi spy-cam technology to download images of passengers, Victorian
Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said today.

From next week, taxis in Melbourne and Geelong will start being fitted with security
cameras to improve driver safety following a series of violent incidents.

All cabs will have to have the system installed by April 12 next year.

Mr Batchelor today played down privacy concerns about the move, saying only police
and accredited taxi depot workers would download the images, which would be encrypted
and password protected.

Anyone found tampering with them could lose their job, Mr Batchelor said.

"Let's be real about this - there are lots of people who get into cabs with other people
they don't want their wives and partners, don't want to be seen with," he told radio 3AW.

"Because of that possibility we have been scrupulous in setting down the highest guidelines
to restrict access.

"You won't be able to casually go perusing through it just to see whether the taxi
driver was working or not, whether the passengers were paying their fares or not.

"It's about serious incidents."

The system uses an in-car camera, linked to the vehicle's global positioning and alarm
systems, which takes a regular series of images, increasing in frequency if an alarm is
raised.

Mr Batchelor said taxi owners would pay for the $2,500 system and recoup the cost through
a small increase in taxi fares that had been in place since the end of last year.

The system was already operating in Western Australia and had resulted in a drop in
serious incidents, he said.

AAP clr/gfr/ph/sb

KEYWORD: SPYCAM

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