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.