Liberty Victoria concerned over VicRoads part privatisation
Submitted by Liberty Victoria on Tue, 16/03/2021 - 16:42
Liberty Victoria is concerned about data security following the part-privatisation of VicRoads. The data that will become available to private enterprise will be very broad and Liberty Victoria is concerned about the security of it, when in private hands. The data that would include photos which are capable of use for facial recognition, and other personal information including names, dates of birth, addresses, and motor vehicle registrations.
VicRoads’ collects and holds a range of data, some of which is publicly available and some of which is only available on request.[1] Currently, personal information collected, handled and stored by VicRoads is managed under the legislative regimes established by the Road Safety Act 1986, Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 and the Health Records Act 2001.[2]
While the Government has assured that it will maintain control of motorists’ data, Liberty Victoria is concerned that the integrity of that data may be compromised following the privatisation and notes the potential for data breach.
Further, this data has immense commercial value, including most significantly for demographic statistics and financial data, given Driver Licences form the foundation of credit checking in Australia.
If VicRoads is going to be part-privatised then Liberty Victoria urges the Government to adhere to high level data protection standards and require that any private enterprise that becomes involved with data collected by VicRoads agree to transparency and reporting standard
For enquiries contact Liberty Victoria at
info@libertyvictoria.org.au or phone 03 9670 6422
[1] https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/about-vicroads/accessing-vicroads-data