The Acting Privacy Commissioner is shocked and appalled by the graphic images posted by a trauma cleaning company and wants to hear from anyone who thinks the company has breached their privacy.
Illustration: Some of Crime Scene Cleaners' photos have garnered more than 100 reactions, dozens of comments, and shares. Photo: RNZ/Vinay Ranchhod
Yesterday, RNZ revealed business Crime Scene Cleaners had been posting photos of scenes of suspected suicides, sudden deaths, and assaults, for nearly two years.
Clients have told RNZ they never gave permission for the images to be published online.
The company apologised yesterday, after initially defending its posts, saying they were raising "public awareness".
"We take a particularly dim view of this behaviour" - Acting Privacy Commissioner Liz MacPherson
Acting Privacy Commissioner Liz MacPherson told RNZ reporter Sam Olley, she was "looking into the issue as a potential privacy breach".
Acting Privacy Commissioner Liz MacPherson. Photo: RNZ /Dom Thomas
"I'm deeply concerned and dismayed about this cleaning agency collecting and sharing online images. These events are deeply personal and to violate that space by photographing and subsequently publicising them on social media is inherently wrong, particularly considering the distress these images can cause others who see them," MacPherson said.
"This is a situation where extreme caution should be taken in the collection and care of information like this. This is really sensitive information. These are images of the context around people when they're at their most vulnerable at times of great trauma and tragedy, and we take a particularly dim view of this behaviour."
"We're looking into this issue as a potential privacy breach... We would encourage anyone who feels that their privacy has been breached to contact our office."
The Privacy Commissioner's office would consider whether this was a privacy breach before deciding on whether it should be investigated, MacPherson said.
"I've got some significant questions that just occur from a privacy perspective.
"I'm concerned about having a social media policy that involves the posting of this sort of material."
If an investigation is undertaken and an individual or organisation is found to have breached privacy, then they could be issued with a compliance notice, MacPherson said.
"The first thing that we would be doing [if an investigation concluded privacy was breach] is we'd be issuing them with the draft compliance notice, which would essentially instruct them as to the issues that we want them to address, to put right.
"If they didn't put those things right after we've issued them with a final compliance notice, they can be prosecuted and fines are up to $10,000, but I'd have to say that I would have thought that the most significant issue for them today is the reputational damage that they've brought onto themselves."
MacPherson said any company that collected personal information had a duty to ensure it did not breach clients' trust.
The Chief Coroner is also assessing whether posts breached non-publication orders.
Ports of Auckland, KiwiRail, Ministry of Justice, Auckland and Christchurch city councils confirmed they had made payments to Crime Scene Cleaners in the past, but are rethinking doing so in future.
* To contact the commissioner's office call 0800 803 909 or email at enquiries@privacy.org.nz