The UK Home Office has breached data protection law by using electronic tags to monitor migrants, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The regulator said the government department failed to sufficiently assess the privacy intrusion of the continuous collection of individuals’ location information. It noted that 24/7 access to people’s movement is likely to reveal sensitive information, such as their religion, sexuality or health status.
The Home Office’s pilot placed ankle tags and tracked the GPS location of up to 600 migrants on immigration bail. The scheme was designed to test whether electronic monitoring is an effective alternative to detention in maintaining regular contact with migrants and reducing the risk of absconding.
However, the Home Office did not explain sufficiently why it was necessary or proportionate to collect, access and use this data, and had not provided evidence that it had considered less intrusive monitoring methods, the ICO found.
Additionally, the people tagged in the scheme were not provided with clear and easily accessible information about what personal data was being collected, how long it will be stored, and how it will be used.
No tags.
