The French Data Protection Authority, the CNIL, considers the current use of chip-cards for public transport a serious danger for privacy. The cards combine identity-data with travel data like point of entrance to the subway, date and time, and even exact route in case the passenger switches route halfway.
In its recommendation of 16 September, the CNIL says: "In fact, the movements of persons using these cards can be reconstructed and thus they are no longer anonymous. This limits the fundamental and constitutional freedom of coming and going as well as the right to a private life, which also is a constitutional value."
The possibility of anonymous travelling should be maintained, according to the French DPA, independent of any card system. Alternatively, all data relating to itineraries should be anonymised, irrespective of central storage or only on the card itself, except in case of fraud control. However, even for the purpose of fraud control storage may never exceed a period of 2 days.
Another suggested measure to protect privacy is to create an electronic form with which passengers can object against the storage of their picture.
In 2001, the Parisian public transport authority (Ratp) received a Big Brother Award for the initiative to develop the track-and-trace technology. The use of these chip-cards is not limited to Paris though, in 2002 the CNIL has also researched the storage period of databases with passenger movements in Amiens, Lyon, Valenciennes, Marseille and Nice.
Earlier this summer in Finland a Big Brother Award was given to YTV, a firm that controls public transport in the Helsinki region, for storing individual passenger information including social security numbers. Similarly, in the Netherlands the company Translink is nominated this year for plans to introduce the same technology, putting a higher price on anonymous travelling.
CNIL recommendation (16.09.2003)
http://www.cnil.fr/textes/recomand/d03-038.htm
Big Brother Awards
http://www.bigbrotherawards.org