Notes from the IAPP Asia Managing Director, 12 May 2017

Selamat Pagi from Singapore!

As a frequent traveller, I have been paying attention to various airline incidents recently. I will not opine on the rights or wrongs of any of the recorded episodes, but what has been exercising my mind is the privacy issue around every person believing they have the right to record others and display that footage on social media.

In the natural world, there is the debate as to whether we change things simply by observing them. Do these amateur producers believe they will stop a situation escalating by having protagonists know they are on record? Are they attempting to have one of the parties revealed as “the bad guy,” having captured the “evidence” (there is usually more to the story than a clip shows)? Or are they just trying to get juicy footage in the hope it will go viral, giving them 15 seconds of fame?

In my mind, this came to a head this week with two incidents: a check-in agent who played to the camera, explaining what was occurring (waiting for a manager) while smiling just a little mockingly, and a check-in agent who, when she realized she was being recorded, immediately cancelled the passenger’s ticket. Again, whatever the rights or wrongs of this action, I have empathy for someone being recorded against their will. It’s not too far a step from a poor lady who, not too long ago, was photographed undressed in a gym changing room and body-shamed on social media by a supposed fitness professional.

It has been said before: Smartphones don’t make people smart.

Changing behavior is one stated motive of the Hong Kong police in plans for all police officers to carry body-worn video cameras from 2021 to assist in confrontational episodes. The cameras have been trialed, and Privacy Commissioner Wong has approved the guidelines for their use. An official said the cameras had helped to de-escalate situations, but they were also used for evidence gathering. While officers had been trained to ensure that the cameras were operated within the privacy law, concerns were being voiced by some parties about privacy. The other day, I saw a tourist wearing such a camera, and it did cross my mind that he could be recording people, including children, without their knowledge.

It’s no longer limited to smartphones.

The impact of technology on privacy is not a new thing. In an 1890 paper called “The Right to Privacy,” Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis claimed that “recent inventions and business methods” — including instant photography and tabloid gossip — had “invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life.”

Go carefully out there.