AD/Rotterdams Dagblad, 17 November 2015: 'Concerns about privacy when driving in environmental zone'

“Motorists entering Rotterdam's environmental zone next year should be warned in advance with signs that their license plates will be registered. If this is not done, the environmental zone will be "unlawful", the Privacy First foundation argues. The organisation is also concerned about misuse of the license plate data of thousands of motorists.

"History shows that these kinds of systems are always first set up for one or two purposes, only to be used and abused for all kinds of other purposes years later," said Vincent Böhre of the privacy foundation. For example, licence plate information could be shared with the judiciary or the tax authorities.

A large part of Rotterdam will be closed to polluting vehicles on 1 January. The municipality hopes to improve air quality in the city this way. To monitor the measure, cameras will be placed above the major roads in Rotterdam to register license plates of passing cars. Employees of Stadsbeheer will also use scan cars to register the license plates of vehicles in the city.

Warning
According to Böhre, camera surveillance should always include a warning. "Otherwise, the environmental zone should not be introduced," he says. "The municipality will have to make it clear what happens to that data." In this respect, the foundation has little faith in Rotterdam. "Of all the municipalities in the Netherlands, Rotterdam is the most privacy violating." (...)"

Source: AD/Rotterdams Dagblad, 17 November 2015, p. 5. Click HERE For the full article at AD.nl. Also published in abridged form in Algemeen Dagblad 18 November 2015, City and Country section, p. 1.