From:
Mrs. Deepa Tidke
Membership No. LT-1811
Date: 24th
February, 2014
To,
1) The
Chairman,
MIG Cricket Club,
Bandra – E, Mumbai
2) The
Hon. General Secretary, MIG Cricket Club
3) All
the Trustee of the Club
4) All
the Members of the Managing Committee of the Club
Dear Sir,
Re. Cameras in the club
premises
The
management has installed surveillance cameras all over the club premises
without taking the members into confidence. Security considerations and police
advisories necessitate the cameras being installed at the gate and in the club
entrance door/s but during my last visit I saw cameras with voice recorders are installed in the bar,
restaurants, card room etc. I do not know where else the cameras are placed.
Many serious issues need to be resolved before the cameras are activated. The
issues are:
1. Members’
right to Privacy
2. Misuse
- any guarantee against?
3. Licence
to Spy?
4. Monitoring
person/s – Credibility?
5. Misuse
by vested interest
6. Staff
behavior – Scared - interaction with members lost
7. Data
Protection Act and Data Protection Rules
8. RTI
and the recorded data
Detailed note covering
discussion on each of the points is attached.
Please note that
privacy of the members should be protected and cannot be compromised. The security
considerations ends at the gate as all the entrants are recorded. The
Management cannot guarantee against the misuse or certifying credibility of the
monitors and so mere assurances against such misuse would be worthless. The
members wonder what advice was provided by the Legal Advisors of the management
on the issues arising out of Data Protection laws and rules. I request you to
put such advice, if availed, before the members.
I request you to
put before the members in the ensuing AGM the justifications by the Board of
Trustees (As all the capital expenditure is approved by the BOT) and total cost
incurred on the same. I further request you reconsider the camera locations and
remove all the cameras except those at the main gate and at the entrance doors
of the club. Many members are expressed their concerns as written above.
Thanking you,
Yours
sincerely,
Deepa Tidke
LT-1811
Note
on the issues re. Surveillance Cameras at MIG Cricket Club
1.
Members’
right to Privacy
Conversation and photos of the
members and their guests will now be recorded. Members’ interactions inter-se do
not have any security considerations for the club. We have security guards to
control any untoward stray instances.
Such data may result into moral policing and even blackmailing in future that the
management cannot guarantee against.
The Supreme Court of India has held
in a number of cases that the right to privacy is implicit in the right to life
and personal liberty guaranteed to Indian citizens.
2.
Misuse
- any guarantee against?
We have many lady members and as
associate members. They have already started feeling uncomfortable being
watched. The cameras in the lobby, gym, terraces used for dance/yoga/ aerobic
classes, swimming pool and such places will record uncomfortable photos. The
ladies do not want such photos being viewed by any including any trustee or any
managing committee member in charge of the monitoring.
We regularly read reports of such
photos going viral on social media and the consequent police cases. We do not
want even creating any possibility in our club.
There are allegations of betting
being done in the Card room. Even assuming that it takes place as a stray
instance, what is the guarantee is not selectively misused as evidence in
complaints to police?
The Management cannot provide any
guarantee against the misuse and mere words of assurance have no value.
3.
Licence
to Spy?
I draw your attention to an interesting
blog viz. “Licence to spy” http://www.fsp-law.com/articles/licensed-to-spy-cctv-and-the-law
No additional comments are
required. Recording of the conversations is most dangerous. The members fail to
understand any purpose achieved by recording the conversations.
4.
Monitoring
person/s – Credibility?
Even for the limited recordings at
the gates, the members want to know the person who is authorized to view the
recordings. He needs to be a person of highest character and credibility and without
even any allegation of moral misconduct in the past.
Let the members discuss each of the
members of the Board of Trustees or of the Managing Committee for approval of
the name. Credibility of such person is of most importance even when the
cameras are restricted only to the gates. The members should be taken into
confidence while selecting such person as their privacy is at stake. The
Management cannot decide of its own on such sensitive issue.
5.
Misuse
by vested interest
The data is liable to misused even
for commercial interests or even for the club ‘politics’. What guarantee can be
provided against such misuse? This is more
so as even the conversations are being recorded.
It may lead in future for
unpleasant cases and end up creating mistrust. Nothing is achieved for the
Club’s security by recording the conversations.
6.
Staff
behavior – Scared - interaction with members lost
The staff of the Club has already
withdrawn from any conversation with the members fearing actions by the
management, the fears founded or unfounded. I do not know whether it is the
intended objective but this is the definite fall out.
Such atmosphere of mistrust is not
good for the Club.
7.
Data
Protection Act and Data Protection Rules
I draw your attention to the Data
Protection Act and the Rules made thereunder. The provisions are stringent and
any misuse will attract heavy punishment including imprisonment. Members of the Managing Committee and the
Trustee are sure to face the music in any case of misuse and any data security failure
will be attributed to them being its custodian.
The data, even of the recording at
the gates, is required to be properly preserved and protected against
unauthorized access or modification or deletion. What measures are in place for
the it?
Moreover, such outright and
unjustified breach of privacy of the members may struck down by court, putting
the Club into avoidable legal expenses and loss of the expenses incurred on the
cameras already procured.
8.
RTI
and the recordings
The Clubs are covered under RTI. Is
the Club management prepared and ready to provide the camera recordings at the
Card Room, bar etc. to any person? Let us not test the provisions of RTI.
Deepa
Tidke
LT-1811
24-2-2014
Letter
to the Chairman, MIG Cricket Club, Bandra-E, Mumbai
Re.
Cameras in the club premises – Letter dated 24th Feb., 2014
I support the issues as written in
the letter referred above.
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