Satnav maker TomTom ‘helps’ police set speed traps (update)

Satellite navigation system maker TomTom indirectly sells details of motorists’ driving behaviour to the police for use in determining where speed traps should be placed, the AD reports on Wednesday.


Almost half the country’s police forces use this method of deciding where to put cameras and speed checks, the paper says.
The company’s terms and conditions make it clear that information gleaned from the sat nav systems can be sold to other companies. TomTom sells the information to an intermediary which in turn sells it on to the police.
A spokesman for TomTom told the Telegraaf the company was unaware what the information was being used for. ‘This is a bit of an unpleasant surprise. We did not know,’ the spokesman said. ‘We have to decide what we think about this.’
TomTom issued a profit warning on Wednesday following disappointing sales of its satnav systems in the US.
The company booked net profit of €11m in the first three months of this year on sales down 1.1% at €265m.

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