Big brother oversteps the mark councillor argues

WHILE supportive of the need to protect community members and council assets, Cr Nathan Hersey expressed concern during Wednesday’s South Gippsland Shire Council meeting that the now-adopted Electronic Surveillance Data Usage Policy goes too far.

He was the only councillor to vote against endorsing the policy, saying he couldn’t support it in its current form.

Cr Mohya Davies spoke in support of the new council policy, explaining how it came about.

“The community has been requesting this policy; we have a number of assets that are managed by community groups and they would like to have electronic surveillance of their facilities,” she said.

Cr Davies gave the Sandy Point Hall committee as an example, noting it has been asking for such a policy to be developed and has expressed frustration at the time it has taken to do so.

“They’ve had people climbing onto the roof and damaging assets and they want to be able to have surveillance and be able to keep a record,” she said of the committee members.

The Electronic Surveillance Data Usage Policy governs the use of surveillance equipment, where it can be placed, the need for appropriate signage, suitable handling of data gathered, and the timeframe it should be retained.

The policy must fit into the framework provided by the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 and the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, both of which regulate the usage of electronic surveillance devices, including CCTV, and how this data is handled and stored.

Council’s new policy goes beyond addressing the appropriate use of electronic surveillance equipment and associated data usage.

It refers to “maintaining logs, backups and archives of user and administrator activities on all council technology resources” and mentions “monitoring email, backups and 
archives of emails sent and received through council email servers, and retaining logs, backups and archives of all internet access and network usage”.

Deputy Mayor Hersey said he takes privacy seriously and has recently sought extra information on the policy concerned.

“Although I understand the intent broadly of the policy, I’m not convinced I have enough assurances to support this policy in its current format,” Cr Hersey said.

“I have concerns for the privacy of our staff and although I’ve been given verbal assurances that legal advice has been sought for protections around staff, no details of the legal advice have been provided to me.

“I have concerns that the scope, which covers all users of council IT, is far too broad.”

Cr Hersey added that while he has been told mobile phones are not issued to staff for surveillance, there is mention of mobile phones in the policy.

He expressed the view the document before councillors would be better considered after council’s IT Acceptable Use Policy is finalised.

Cr Hersey also questioned elements of the Electronic Surveillance Data Usage Policy related directly to surveillance, and called for a public register of all public surveillance by the South Gippsland Shire Council, something he stressed is not supported by the current policy.

While Cr Sarah Gilligan said she doesn’t share many of Cr Hersey’s concerns, she added, “But I have happily worked in China.”

She backed up Cr Davies in saying the call for surveillance cameras on council buildings is community-driven and the policy has been developed in response.

Cr Scott Rae acknowledged he shares some of Councillor Hersey’s privacy concerns, but offered advice to councillors and staff using work devices.

“On a council-owned computer or phone, I don’t think you should do anything that you don’t want anyone to see, whether it be who you talk to, or what you do,” he said.

Cr Rae added that he sees the good intent of the policy, declaring “Community is screaming out for surveillance,” and saying that is driven by concerns about criminal activity.

Mayor Clare Williams said that if anyone is doing something they don’t want others to see, they probably shouldn’t be doing it, stating her support for the Electronic Surveillance Data Usage Policy.