Report calls for restrictions on garda access to private phone records
The Data Protection Commissioner yesterday called for restrictions to be placed on garda access to phone records, warning there was potential for abuse if no safeguards were introduced.
Commissioner Billy Hawkes said the law must be changed to ensure phone records were only accessed for the investigation of serious crime and only as a last resort if information could not be gathered elsewhere.
He said current legislation allows gardaí to request records from phone companies for the "investigation or prevention of crime".
"It does not say 'serious crime'. It does not qualify it in any way," he said.
This power was being used "very extensively", with requests to phone companies numbering hundreds every month even though the number of actual crimes being investigated might be small.
"Gardaí might access records for one person on day one of an investigation but if that person rang 100 people in the previous month, that would lead to requests for the records of all 100 people," Mr Hawkes said.
In theory, he said, if he was suspected of cycling through Phoenix Park with no lights, gardaí could seek the records of everyone who made a phone call to or from Phoenix Park in an attempt to prove he was there at that time.
"I have no reason to believe that the gardaí are using it [this power] for anything other than serious crime but I think the law should be clear on that point," he said.
"When gardaí have a power, they can find themselves under extreme pressure to use it. Something meant for use in extreme cases could end up used for trivial matters."
Mr Hawkes was speaking at the publication of his annual report for 2005, which recorded 300 fresh complaints of breaches of data protections by both private commercial organisations and public bodies.
Cold calling, which involves companies ringing people at home and using repeated and aggressive marketing tactics was the number one complaint.
Mr Hawkes said competing campaigns by phone companies wanting customers to switch to their service had led to a spate of complaints and a number of companies had been taken to task.
For the first time, complaints were received against media organisations, although the organisations complained of were not named as legal proceedings are continuing in one instance.
Mr Hawkes said the media industry was not robust enough in complying with its own code of conduct on privacy issues.
"We have seen some examples where there has been serious interference with private lives where it is impossible to argue that there was any public interest," he said.
The commissioner's office also approached numerous State bodies. Local authorities were asked to black out phone numbers on planning files placed on the internet as there was concern the information could be used to harass individuals in planning disputes.
* A PROSPECTIVE customer of AIB was asked for details of their employment and salary when opening a savings deposit account.
The commissioner ruled this information was not needed for the bank to comply with its duties under the Money Laundering Act.
* A householder discovered a CCTV camera on the Luas line overlooked his back garden. The commissioner ordered Luas operators Connex to configure the camera so that it automatically blacked out any images of the garden.
* Some 165,000 people received 'spam calls' to their mobile phones, which rang off quickly before they could be answered. The calls left a missed call message and a phone number that, when rung back, turned out to be an advertisement for a premium rate competition line.
The commissioner has the operator of the promotion, 4's A Fortune Ltd, prosecuted in court, where the firm was fined €300 for each of five sample charges.
* Businesses were bombarded by sales calls from new phone company, Optic Communications, despite being told not to ring again. The commissioner's own office was also targeted and he found the calls "persistent, aggressive and at times abusive".
The company, which was based abroad, ceased operating and the commissioner deemed court action unnecessary.
* A patient on a hospital waiting list complained that their personal data had been passed to the National Treatment Purchase Fund without consent. However, the commissioner found that disclosure of the information to the NTPF was "compatible with the purpose for which the patient had given their data to the hospital". He found no breach of data protection had occurred.
