ADEWUMI ROWLAND

HOW THE LEGAL ISSUES OF PRIVACY AND

PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA CAN SIGNIFICANTLY
INFLUENCE THE USE OF GIS.

University of Greenwich
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Greenw ich, Medway Campus
Pembroke, Chatham Maritime
Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB
UNITED KINGDOM

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How the use of GIS can be significantl y i nfluenced by the legal issues of pri vac y and public access to data

TABLE OF CONTENT
HOW THE LEGAL ISSUES OF PRIVACY AND PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA
CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCE THE USE OF GIS. ..............................I
TABLE OF CONTENT...................................................................................................II
1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1
2 LEGAL ISSUES ..................................................................................................2
2.1 PUBLIC ACCESS ...............................................................................................2
2.2 PRIVACY..............................................................................................................4
3 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................8

ii
1 INTRODUCTION
In her elaborative presentation, Clare (2004) stated that Increased computer
literacy in work place and realisation of importance of location and spatial
information has make the growth of GIS so great in its application to solving GIS
related problem. However, legal issues of privacy, public access to data,
copyrights and the value of public Information have limits GIS commercial
development and potential, this is in contrast to and despite greater public
awareness of GIS. Serious legal considerations and application procedures
must now be kept in mind during the creation, proposal, design and
implementation of large public and private GIS projects. Continuous debate
both in the past and now have been focusing on a number of key issues and
questions as regard significant influence by the legal issues of privacy and
public access to data in promoting the development of GIS technology.
(Margaret L, et al 2000) In his paper review Radoš (2002) claims that, the main
legal issues regarding how privacy and public access to data can significantly
influence the use of GIS are related to confidentiality protection in GIS
databases versus enabling public access to spatial data. Moreover, personal
data integrity of government policies for restrictive disposal and limited access
to spatial data influence GIS development and its usage. (Radoš Š, 2002)

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2 LEGAL ISSUES
Legal issues will either promote or limit the development of GIS technology and
its applications to the industry. GIS is all about data, as data encompass 75% of
all GIS projects. Unquestionably many legal considerations must now be kept in
mind during the development of GIS projects. (Margaret L et al, 2000) Higher
satellite spatial resolution images will increase GIS productivity, are the best
products spatial resolution images accessible? Is United Kingdom and
America’s intelligence in possessing of higher satellite imagery resolution like
0.05 metre resolution imagery? Will public access to this data be made
possible? What security implications are under covered? Will its eventual
commercialisation invade people’s privacy? What of a secret GPS bug
implanted without a court order by the police on a suspect? Will spatial analysis
and GIS generated data be accepted as court evidence? Can the government
set limits on encryption? Is there a right to access personal information held in
GIS databases and query it? These are some of legal issues that need
extensive elaboration as relates to GIS in the present and in the future.

2.1 PUBLIC ACCESS

The government, educational institutions, individuals and the private sector
need to communicate and develop better services using the power that lies
within the GIS “magic” and technology. The reliance on information and data
analysis capability of GIS are immeasurable and beneficial in term of its spatial
and modelling contents. Contrary to this, many government laws still govern
access to records, data and information worldwide and this have positively or
negatively influence the use of GIS depending on the situation. In Nigeria, while
GIS is accepted as a new technological innovation and advancement,
duplication of effort in data capture is common at all level, which has called for
practitioners of GIS to realise that laws and policy coordination of effort is
necessary. Due to lack of a framework, public access to data is still a mirage
and akin to a “camel passing through a need”. The lack of these institutional
spatial data policies has driven many organisations into creating their own
datasets. Certainly, public access to this datasets will be limited, because it is
produced at individual’s expense. If one needs similar data, you just have to
create a new dataset. It is my opinion that the way forward for many African
countries is to resolve all negative and positive legal issues as relates to this
emerging technology of GIS in Africa. How much public information do private
citizens have the right to demand, and can government agencies recover costs
by selling public data created at their own expense? These are few questions in
my opinion that will have to be addressed.

However, in South Africa (Fiona F, 1999), limited law exists to control free
public access to data to control GIS activities, which may have a potentially
negative impact on the environment. This assessment of the environment using
GIS have been delegated to GIS consultant to produce and identify areas of
environmental sensitivity and to provide environmental management
parameters for these areas for any proposed development by individuals. The
legislation also mandate GIS consultants to develop simple GIS viewer to
enable non-GIS specialists to access any information and without any extensive
training and to view the original datasets without having to purchase additional
software and programs. All these are free, and at no cost. A parameter report
can also be generated for selected areas, printed or saved for use in other
application of interest to the user. Such free and easy public access to data will
definitely affect the growth of GIS and increase public awareness of GIS
positively. This will move the country further into research and development,
this free access to data will become a powerful tool in sustainable use and
management of environmental resources. The above South African example is
similar to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Records Act of the US,
but only that GIS consultant in South Africa’s case are mandated to produce,
manipulate, and distribute these data at their own expenses.

What are the legal mechanisms in place to keep a terrorist group from either
obtaining public data or purchasing imagery data for destructive ends? The
command link from satellites to the ground station are always encrypted and
authenticated. Encryption (Clare P, 2004), is when remote sensed satellite

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imagery data are encoded so that only receiving stations with decryption keys
can access and decode the data. Users who did not contribute to provision
costs reasoned this to decreased commercial exploitation of the free the data.
This further explains why most satellite imagery companies won'
t sell data to
defined terrorist nations or violate UN or bilateral trade restrictions. (Clare P,
2004)

In September 27,2003 Nigeria launched her first ever satellite-the Nigeriasat-1.

The signal of Nigeriasat-1 are encrypted and the code known to selected few to
avoid the public access to the down-linked signals before the final images are
rolled out. This allows each DMC (Disaster Monitoring Constellation) countries
to also maintain its dependence. Despite Nigeria’s need for rapid development
in GIS related technology, the Federal Government has entered into agreement
with DMC and Reuters-Alertnet to provide free images in UN declared
emergency situations. It was also agreed that five percent of all images can be
given out free of charge on humanitarian ground. (Obiechina O, 2003).

Meanwhile, public accesses to this image are not free to Nigeria GIS
communities. In January 2004, Zephyrgold International Ltd. challenge the
Federal Government’s decision and its agreement with the DMC and wants free
public access to all image data generated from NigeriaSat-1. Zephyrgold claims
that the satellite was built at the expense of the taxpayer’s money and due to
the fact that it will also rapidly boost research in GIS, hence it should be free.
The government on the other hand, claims the necessity of recouping some of
the expanded money on the project might not make it free to the public.

2.2 PRIVACY
In his presentation, Beth (1997) reviewed that different Information and spatial
technologies are developing and advancing at such a “rocket-pace” that laws
are not keeping up with this growth. Advanced technology using GIS has give
rise to a double-edged sword scenario with advantages and disadvantages. The
following statement was written by Beth (1997) in 1977, twenty eight years ago,
as part of the study to determine the effectiveness of the Privacy Act: “The real
danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation,
integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping
systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even b enevolent, and
wholly justifiable."

With an experience of secret GPS bug implanted without a court order by the
police, then one might be forced to believe that it is becoming obvious that GIS
technology is negatively bringing about a decrease in personal privacy.
Contrary to this opinion, many school of thought (Onsrud, H et al, 1994;
Obiechina O, 2003) still believe that geographic information has nothing to do
with personal privacy but rather a factual information about land and resources
telling us what, where, when and how this resources affect human lives.
Nevertheless, because of GIS strong data integration and analysis capabilities
and because most data are inherently local in nature, hence, the storage,
display and analysis capabilities of GIS software make geographic information
systems highly effective tools for analysing personal information. Hence, the
interference of one’s personal privacy might be an added advantage to security
and to enhance government and private sector in providing better services.

Onsrud claimed that (Onsrud, H et al, 1994) GIS technology has the potential to
be far more invasive of personal privacy than many other information
technologies in the world. However, from another perspective, geographic
information systems are proving to be powerful data integrating technologies.
Examples from the marketing community has shown that the ability to integrate
data by tying that data to its geographic location is one of the marketing
industries most promising and powerful tools in compiling data from widely
disparate sources on households and individuals.

Secondly, another issue worth consideration of how use of GIS can be

significantly influenced by the legal issues of privacy is how the world powers in
satellite technology can decide to see on minute-to-minute basis who and who,
what and what are in each individual countries with out recourse to any

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government’s permission. Examples are use of GIS in monitoring potential

terrorist movement, communication and e-commerce using GIS technology. In
Africa (Nigeria), the State Security Service (SSS) are using GIS technology to
monitor suspected potential terrorist (AIT, 2002), this is to convince the
developed communities affected most by terrorists of Nigeria’s cooperation and
support in combating terrorist. Some concerned group in Nigeria have risen
against this practice and have gone to necessary court of appeal to stop any
use of GIS technology in invading their privacy. This will definitely affect the use
and impact of GIS in Nigeria as a developing nation. The television quoted the
Nigerian law as contrary to this practice: Chapter IV, 37 of the 1999 Constitution
declares that "the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone
conversations, and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and
protected.".

Government security agencies are double standard and schizophrenic. They

want strong cryptography-difficult codes to break- for their own military, GIS and
diplomatic communications and weak cryptography to be used by adversaries,
so that they can easily break these codes. They campaign for privacy of citi zens
but at the same time they would also like to be able to monitor communications
and movement of criminals. At the time of writing this essay, the UK
government are proposing a legislation that would allow breaking into private
communication of suspected terrorists.

CONCLUSION
Copyrights, liability and the value of public Information are also significant
debate theme for further discussion on legal issues in GIS. It includes actions
on GIS policy, and on related laws that may influence the development and use
of GIS. In my opinion, developing countries support weaker laws and standards
as a way to encourage their own GIS development, while developed countries
prefers stricter standards and laws.
The concept of a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) and its potential
realisation has captured the imagination and attention of politicians,
administrators, academia, industry and professionals. The GSDI consists of the
broad policy, organisational, technical and financial arrangement necessary to
support global access to GIS data. Many believe its central to the response to
the challenge of global access to data, and thus improve general economic
growth, social development and environmental management using GIS. (Fiona
F, 1999)

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3 REFERENCES

1. African Independent News, 2002, “Combating and prevention of Terrorist

related crime in Nigeria using Information Techniques”, Crime Fighters, a
production by Nigerian Police Force-Publicity department.

2. Beth Givens, 1997. “Issues of Privacy and Access”, San Diego County
Technology Summit”, Available from:
http://www.privacyrights.org/index.htm (Last accessed 12 September
2005)

3. Clare Power, 2004, “Commercialisation of GIS and RS”: MSc Case

Studies in GIS and Remote Sensing; Week 2 Lecture, Department of
Earth and Environmental Sciences, Greenwich University Medway
Campus

4. Fiona F, 1999, “ The South African Approach to the use of GIS in

Environmental Management”, EIS News, October 1999 Issue.

5. Margaret L, Kenneth E.F, 2OOO, “Legal Issues Relating to GIS”,

Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, 2000. Available
from: http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/legal/legal_ftoc.ht
(Last assessed, 22th August, 2005)

6. Onsrud, H.J., J. Johnson, and X. Lopez, 1994, “Protecting Personal

Privacy in Using Geographic Information System”. Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing Journal, 1994, LX (9), 1083-1095.

7. Obiechina O., November 2003, “NigeriaSat-1 : The full story”. Apco and
Associate Ltd: ISBN 978-2368-79-3; page 15-16

8. Radoš Š, 2002, “Legal Issues Regarding Spatial Data”, University of

Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Geodetic
Department, FIG XXII International Congress Washington, D.C. USA,
April 19-26 2002