26 Jan 2011

Privacy checks on travel cards urged

8:13 am on 26 January 2011

A civil liberties campaigner says he wants to see checks on companies that collect personal information from travel cards used in New Zealand.

The Snapper public transport card in Wellington and the integrated ticketing system being worked on in Auckland can record passengers' movements and require cardholders to register their name and contact details.

Auckland privacy lawyer Tim McBride says random audits should be carried out by, for example, the Privacy Commission to ensure the companies are not breaching peoples' privacy.

The Council for Civil Liberties agrees there should be some form of audit.

Both Auckland Transport and Snapper say the information will not be used illegally and will be used to enhance transport services.

Snapper spokesperson Gabor Szikszai says the firm would not to anything to break the trust of customers, and is not prepared to sell or give the data to third parties without customers' express permission.