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A kerbside loading and unloading bay monitoring system at a section of the Kwun Tong Promenade. Photo: Dickson Lee

Privacy concerns over hi-tech system to track illegal parking in Hong Kong

  • The technology can identify different types of illegal parking, including double-parking and stopping on double yellow lines
  • System will be tested in East Kowloon from March, with a view to a citywide roll-out

Cameras that can tell if a car is parked illegally and automatically read its licence plate for the police to track down are throwing up various legal and privacy concerns for Hong Kong officials, amid a public consultation on them and a range of other hi-tech plans for urban management.

By the end of March, 12 surveillance cameras will be mounted on street lights at three traffic black spots – Hung To Road and Tsun Yip Street in Kwun Tong, and Sze Mei Street in San Po Kong – in a trial scheme put forward by the Development Bureau’s Energising Kowloon East Office (EKEO).

As well as reading number plates, the CCTV and monitoring system will be able to identify different types of illegal parking, including double-parking and stopping on double yellow lines.

Officials plan to hand over the system to police by the end of this year, when its accuracy has reached a certain level, so officers can monitor and crack down on illegal parking.

But the information collected cannot currently be used in prosecutions, because the law requires that officers slap a ticket on a car, or hand it to the owner, at the time of the offence.

The head of the EKEO, Brenda Au Kit-ying, said that might change.

“The government’s long-term goal is to be able to use technology to facilitate the police and the government in their enforcement action,” she said.

“We believe that such a smart system can act as a deterrent for drivers, and help alleviate traffic congestion in the city.”

Brenda Au’s office has many ideas to turn East Kowloon into a “smart district”. Photo: Dickson Lee

She said the government would have to amend the Traffic Ordinance to remove the need for officers to issue penalty tickets on the spot, and let them issue them based on the CCTV recording.

The Transport and Housing Bureau said any amendments would depend on the results of the trial, which is expected to end before the third quarter of next year.

Police said officers would not use the captured video or data for any enforcement action during the trial period, but would consider using the system to assist prosecution if the trial went well.

The monitoring system is one of many hi-tech initiatives under way to transform Kowloon East into a “smart district”. The others include using sensors to detect rubbish levels in recycling bins.

The trial schemes are listed under an ongoing public consultation that will end next month. Also under consultation is a long-term plan to test electric and autonomous buses.

Officials have commissioned a consultant to look at how the parking scheme could extend to the rest of Hong Kong, as well as what privacy and legal issues it would involve.

The law currently requires officers to put a ticket on a car, or hand it to its owner, at the time of a parking offence. That could change. Photo: Dickson Lee

The study is expected to be completed this year, according to Au.

“CCTV surveillance will touch on a number of privacy issues which we need to be aware of, such as recording individual car plates, and the study will assess the trial’s impact on privacy concerns,” she said.

If they intend to use the footage for law enforcement, they must first consult the public
Charles Mok, IT sector legislator

“Looking ahead, [the study] will also look at what changes the police will have to make in terms of resources, upgrading their own systems, as well as legal amendments.”

IT sector legislator Charles Mok said the government must clearly state the purpose of the collected CCTV footage.

That includes informing the public about who has access to the footage, and how long it will be stored for.

“If they intend to use the footage for law enforcement, they must first consult the public,” Mok said.

Citing guidelines issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Mok said the government must put up signs informing the public that they are being filmed.

Stuart Hargreaves, an assistant professor at Chinese University specialising in information and privacy law, said the government should have a procedure to delete images that do not reveal any illegal parking within 48 hours, while those that do could be retained until the end of any legal process.

“In either case, imagery should not be retained indefinitely,” Hargreaves said.

He added that police should not be allowed to review the images for investigations into unrelated offences, unless they had a warrant.

Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho worried that the monitoring system would do more harm than good.

“Under an automated system, there will be no discretion for any special circumstances,” Tam, also a Kwun Tong district councillor, said.

“If you parked your car in an unauthorised zone, but you were helping someone in a wheelchair, I don’t believe the police would hand you a ticket under those circumstances.”

Additional reporting by Sum Lok-kei

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