Dutch to track vehicles with GPS

Despite statements to the contrary by government ministers, the Dutch government will use data from GPS devices to be installed in cars as part of a pay-as-you-go scheme scheduled for introduction in 2012. The bill submitted to parliament shows that police and the intelligence services will be allowed to use data tracking of a vehicle’s movements when the “security of the state” is at stake, or in case of “the prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal acts”.

The conservative opposition party VVD and the populist Freedom Party are deeply concerned that the government will gain yet another way of spying on its citizens. De Telegraaf writes that after tapping phone lines and checking licence plates via cameras installed over motorways, the GPS device – which has been dubbed ‘Camiel’s box’ after Traffic Minister Camiel Eurlings – offers the Dutch government yet another possibility for control and surveillance.

Parliament members Charlie Aptroot and Fred Teeven of the WD party say it’s “A real Big Brother is Watching You story”, and Freedom Party MP Richard de Mos says: “Next thing you know, all the information will be available to the politburo as usual”.  Transport minister Eurlings says the information about what routes were driven at which dates will remain confidential, but the VVD remains suspicious. MP Charlie Aptroot says: “It would not be the first time that the government uses secret data after all, simply because it decides it’s important.”

However, Christian Union MP Ernst Cramer feels the whole privacy debate is being blown out of proportion. “Our supermarket bonus cards and our mobile phone data mean our lives are public property anyway. I feel it’s quite convenient if my phone provider knows what my daily route is. I may get direct information about traffic jams and about that one petrol station where I can get a one-cent discount”.