Article: Data watchdog questions camera use

Seth Brundle

from www.rte.ie/news/2005/0419/data.html

The Data Protection Commissioner has said the possible use of speed cameras to detect motor tax evasion could lead to what he called a surveillance society.

Speaking at the launch of his annual report for 2004, Joe Meade said he had received a request from the Department of Transport seeking his views on the use of speed cameras.

The report also reveals that formal complaints to the Data Complaints Office almost doubled last year.

One third of all complaints were in relation to unsolicited phone, text and e-mail messages known as spam.

Alun

What a load of dangly bits! So, the Gardai can use their eyeballs to detect motor tax evaders, but as soon as a camera is used it's a "surveillance society"?

Boggle

Only when the camera's in question can monitor your comings and goings.

528i

sounds like you've got something to hide there boggle...

elexes

i would like to see somthing like this could help the guards a lot as long as they dont abuse the system . just have the camera for noting if the car in question has propper tax .

thus stopping guards having to do chk's every year and gives them more time to do whatever else there needed for

dont know about u lot but ive been stoped for a tax chk 7 times in the last month .

kasintahan

Monitoring car tax evasion is one thing.

But there is MASSIVE opportunity for abuse - monitoring the location of TD's car location before critical Dail votes would be something I'm sure most parties would love to have access to.

Remember, just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it's not embarressing. Many legal acts, an affair with ones secretary for example, could be used to gain leverage over just about anybody.

Seth Brundle

on this note:- Garda to test car number reading system

528i

I know its slightly illegal to have italics [and all that other tasteless nonsense to help attention seekers stand out from the herd], but can you actually be fined for dirty [illegible] number plates ? yet..

camarobill

department of waknres,more like. :mad: they should get there fat arses out on the street,and do some real work,sort out the f..k..g roads,then people will pay up,easy money,handy work AS PER USUAL.WHAT NEXT,

DubTony

The whole issue of checking road tax is ridiculous. The brits have just introduced a system that flags untaxed vehicles on the computer and after a certain amount of time sends out a fine in the post. Simple, quick and non-invasive.

Last week in Dublin we had the situation of the truck crashing on the N4 - M50 junction and the Gardai added to the traffic chaos by checking road tax (I'm sure some arsehole superintendent or other decided to issue the order, and it wasn't the guys on the road being diligent).

I've been stopped in 5 tax checks since Jan. 1 and it's getting annoying. Another point is the stupidity of placing the tax disc on the front of the car on the passengers side. The Gardai stand in the middle of the road to stop traffic and then walk to the middle of the car to check the tax. One of them had to lift my wiper last time (Doesn't the colour of the disc identify the month?). I assume that this positioning is so that the cop or traffic warden on the footpath can check the tax, but how often does that happen?

Cops in cars spend almost all of their time behind other cars. If the tax disc was on the rear reg plate or in the rear window, they'd see them all day long and could "do" people to their hearts content without ever preventing innocent motorists going about their business. As for cameras? Well, that's just another excuse to try to automate a system and ensure that as many drivers as possible get done. I wonder if they'll put film in them.

Tony

Pataman

DubTony wrote:

The whole issue of checking road tax is ridiculous. The brits have just introduced a system that flags untaxed vehicles on the computer and after a certain amount of time sends out a fine in the post. Simple, quick and non-invasive.

Well, that's just another excuse to try to automate a system and ensure that as many drivers as possible get done. I wonder if they'll put film in them.

Tony

I thnk its a great idea. Paying my own car tax is bad enough but i dont want to pay others aswell. In the north the have mobile cameras which record cars regs at various points and then are checked against a database to see whose car was used in a public place without tax. If you pay your tax you have nothing to fear.

Our man in Havana

But it won't catch all those UK or LV cars being used here without paying tax. It would be a great system if it was used to gather info on VRT evaders.

Boggle

It would be a great system if it was used to gather info on VRT evaders.

Why do you give a flock what other people do? It's willing sheep like you that keep this govt afloat... Once again to state my position, VRT is an illegal tax imposed to reduce the flow of a specific goods between EU countries and as such is contrary to the free market system that Europe was sold on. As such, anyone who can get away with not paying it is more than welcome to try as far as I'm concerned.

I thnk its a great idea. Paying my own car tax is bad enough but i dont want to pay others aswell.

What makes you think the govt would reduce the rate of car tax if, all of a sudden, we had 100% compliance. As with the boom years in this country, the more the govt makes, the more they spend on junkets and other such crap that you and I will never see the benefit of.

I've been stopped in 5 tax checks since Jan. 1

Funnily enough I haven't seen a single check point at night - despite the fact that a huge amount of accidents hapen in the early hours when people are driving while locked out of their chestnut (tree)... Even when in a taxi on the way home from a club I haven't seen one.

Drummer

Pataman wrote:

I thnk its a great idea. Paying my own car tax is bad enough but i dont want to pay others aswell. In the north the have mobile cameras which record cars regs at various points and then are checked against a database to see whose car was used in a public place without tax. If you pay your tax you have nothing to fear.

Do you think because person x doesn't pay road tax, this means yours is higher ? Imagine if everyone tomorrow paid road tax, do you think the government would reduce the price of tax significantly ? It would make no difference. Anyway, i dont see the point in avoiding road tax, it doesn't cost that much. It's the price of insurance we should worry about.

prospect

Drummer wrote:

i dont see the point in avoiding road tax, it doesn't cost that much.

I have no prob with paying road tax, assuming you get value for money, which we don't.
As far as i am concerned, road tax, (along with about 8 million driving related taxes, seriously 8 MILLION!! ), should at least give us decent, safe, fast roads, with few traffic jams...

Canis Lupus

I think what people sometimes forget is that you have to look towards the future... A camera system set up to monitor possible car tax evasion is fine, but what if in 10/20 years or less the government loosen restrictions surrounding the cameras... and then a further few years tweak the laws again until the next thing you know you have a microchip implanted in yur arm tracking yur movements Okay maybe a flight of fancy but personally I'd prefer to keep things as they are.