Road charges face privacy challenge

In the fifth in a series on a major data protection conference, Tom Bradshaw reports on the presentation of Toby Stevens, director of the Enterprise Privacy Group and chairman of the BCS Information Privacy Expert Panel GUERNSEY authorities might have a headache deciding how to implement paid parking.

But the island has it easy compared to the complex issues underpinning the UK's traffic management strategies.

Speaking at the recent data protection conference, Enterprise Privacy Group director Toby Stevens discussed how automated traffic management risked breaching

privacy.

The UK is currently considering implementing such a system for road charging.

It would have considerable benefits in terms of cost and efficiency but must be implemented in a way to ensure trust in the system.

'The theory is to have a mechanism to charge vehicle users according to when, where, how and what they drive with the potential to automate all aspects of road costs.'

That would include congestion charges, motorway tolls, fuel duty, vehicle insurance and environmental costs. Currently there are two favoured approaches - tag and beacon versus GPS.

'We need to ensure privacy-friendly delivery of road-charging services and examine the results of pilot programmes to identify which work and which don't.'

In the former system, each vehicle has a tag unit installed that can be interrogated when it passes a gantry or beacon system. This will automatically debit either the tag itself or a linked account.

With the other, each vehicle would have an on-board computer installed comprising a GPS and mobile data device that transmits detailed telematics back to the base station. From this the usage bill would be calculated.

Each comes with privacy challenges.

Private companies would be used to operate the systems but must have operational transparency in terms of openness about design and management. They must be resilient to failures and subject to an external audit. Both these requirements create privacy issues in terms of minimising the distribution of collected data.

The consumer interface in terms of interrogation of the on-board tag or computer and the delivery of billing data must be as secure as possible.

Mr Stevens used as a success the example of TollCollect which charges HGV operators for use of the German autobahn. It collects approximately £240m. per month from 497,000 registered vehicles on a 12,000km network.

Registered vehicles have an OBU using GPS technologies, non-registered pay manually. Billing data is deleted when the account is settled.

Fixed and mobile cameras identify unregistered vehicles and enforcement data is deleted immediately unless the vehicle is identified as evading the toll.

'We need to learn from these examples and create an open discussion that engages all stakeholder groups including the policy objectives, the revenue generation and expenditure and the imperative issues of privacy, trust and consumer confidence.'