May 3rd, 2011
TomTom in Privacy Scrap
The Wall Street Journal
The use by police of navigation equipment maker TomTom NV’s data to position speed cameras looks to have been limited to the Netherlands, but the company still has to lay out more clearly how it protects the privacy of its customers, Chief Executive Harold Goddijn said.
Last week, it emerged that police in certain Dutch provinces used data collected by TomTom to better plan where to locate speed traps, causing an outcry in the country and forcing Mr. Goddijn to apologize in e-mails to its customers and in full-page advertisements in Dutch newspapers.
The company can’t guarantee “a hundred percent” that the issue was limited to its home market of the Netherlands, but there is no indication right now that it occurred in other countries, Mr. Goddijn said in an interview Monday.
Meanwhile, the company’s customers appreciated its “open communication” over the issue and doesn’t expect its reputation to be harmed, he said.
TomTom collects anonymous data from owners of high-end navigation devices and those on Vodafone Group PLC’s local network to provide information about individual driving behavior, which it then uses to power real-time information services for its customers, including the location of speed cameras.
TomTom also sells the data, which includes speed profiles, to governments throughout Europe as well as the U.S. and Canada. The province of Ontario, for example, used TomTom data to refine an evacuation plan for the city of Toronto.
When it emerged that Dutch police were making use of the data to determine where to place speed cameras “it was a sobering experience,” Mr. Goddijn said, adding that TomTom has more work to do to explain how it protects customers’ privacy.
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