Council involves ICO over practice of collecting phone data via waste bins

The City of London Corporation has reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office the practice of collecting data – via waste bins – from phones and devices carried by passerbys.

The Corporation has also called on the company behind the trial, Renew, to stop the data collection immediately.

The new bins are bomb-proof and were installed to bring waste bins back to City streets. They have TV screens providing public information.

A spokesman for the City of London said: “We have already asked the firm concerned to stop this data collection immediately and we have also taken the issue to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Irrespective of what’s technically possible, anything that happens like this on the streets needs to be done carefully, with the backing of an informed public.”

He added: “This latest development was precipitate and clearly needs much more thought – in the meantime data collection – even if it is anonymised - needs to stop.”

According to the BBC, Renew’s chief executive said the company had “stopped all trials in the meantime”.

He also insisted that the devices had only recorded "extremely limited, encrypted, aggregated and anonymised data" and that the current technology was simply being used to monitor local footfall.