On livestreaming debt collection activities.

So there's been some chatter about a recent incident, in which debt collectors turned up at a debtor's offices to collect on a debt. All in a day's work, except - the debt collectors chose to livestream their visit to the debtor's offices.

The pressure may have worked, as payment seemed to have been made on the spot.

That being said, aspiring debt collectors who wish to emulate this approach may wish to consider the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 ("PDPA"), which provides that consent is required for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information. If an individual can be identified from that information, it is considered "personal information". As such, a video recording which shows someone's face is "personal information", and consent is required to make or disclose such footage.

So at first glance, if the debt collectors did not obtain the debtor's consent to livestream their activities, there may be PDPA issues.

But wait!

There's an important exception to the consent obligation under the PDPA. Consent is not required in respect of "publicly available" personal information. So if I'm walking down a public street, I walk past someone doing a livestream, and my face is captured on the livestream, the livestreamer is not required to obtain my consent.

But there's more! In this case, the livestream footage appears to have captured faces within the interior of the debtor's offices. The debtor's offices are probably not a public place. Since consent may be required to do a livestream at someone else's offices, there may be some basis to make a complaint to the Personal Data Protection Commission.

The footage does also reveal the name of the debt collectors' client. This may not be a PDPA issue, as the PDPA governs the personal data of individuals (and the client is a company), but I wonder if the client expected the debt collectors to share such information with all and sundry...