Leading Vehicle Tracking Provider Helps UK Businesses Stay Privacy Compliant
CMS SupaTrak, the UK’s premier vehicle tracking solutions provider is helping their customers stay compliant with the Human Rights and Data Protection Act buy advising clients to be transparent with their vehicle tracking systems.
The company which has established itself as one of the leading providers of real time tracking applications is keen to rid GPS tracking of its ‘covert spy’ image and instead wants to push the technologies financial and environmental benefits to be at the forefront of its 21st century personality.
The issues surrounding GPS vehicle tracking and employees rights to privacy are numerous and problems commonly occur when tracking systems are used in conflict to privacy and data collection laws, for example, when employers use data gathered during an employee’s personal time to reprimand them.
Jason Airey, Managing Director of CMS SupaTrak had this to say;
“There is no doubt that fleet managers and businesses who rely on vehicles can benefit immensely from vehicle tracking devices but problems occur when managers take the systems tracking capabilities to far. It is true that vehicle tracking devices can identify misuse of company vehicles but this evidence can only be used after an employee has been made aware that the device is there and what it is there for.”
For many companies already utilising vehicle tracking devices the commercial benefits are plentiful and are perhaps the reason why uptake of GPS tracking solutions in the UK has more than doubled in recent years. The technology is now not only being used to track vehicles but is now also implemented to track wild animal migration and many systems are marketed as ‘teenager tracking’ which brings issues related to privacy and the Human Rights Act to a whole other level.
The Human Rights Act is quite simple to understand and basically outlines that all humans have a basic right to privacy. For many people this pertains more explicitly to their personal and private lives away from their employers. As an employee it is normal to assume that employers will have some degree of tracking or monitoring in place, especially where vehicles are involved therefore complete privacy is not always viable.
Jason Airey continues;
“Providing our customers use their vehicle tracking systems to record data during the outlined working hours and all drivers and employees coming into contact with the vehicle are made aware of the system they cannot be in breach of their employee’s human right to privacy.”
There is still much argument surrounding these issues and many vehicle tracking providers have now adapted their GPS systems to enable employers to effectively ‘turn off’ their tracking systems if the vehicle is legally being used by an employee outside of their contractual hours, helping to eradicate conflict somewhat.
The moral of the story as outlined by CMS SupaTrak is that if you are going to utilise vehicle tracking systems within your vehicle fleet make sure you inform your employees and let them know what the system is capable of monitoring.
For more details about CMS SupaTrak and their range of GPS tracking systems, please visit www.supatrak.com
