Irish department of social protection accused of ‘mass surveillance’

According to the Irish Examiner, a complaint has been made to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) accusing the Irish Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection of engaging in “mass surveillance” with regard to the collection of data from the free travel pass variant of the Public Services Card. The complainant noted that when travelling with his own travel pass his rights were being breached under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) given that his movements were being ‘recorded’ each time he scanned the pass when boarding public transport.