Tomorrowland security screening a concern for Privacy Commission

The Commission was not involved in the decision to carry out a screening, a police spokesperson said. “We only require the approval of the mayors of Boom and Rumst, and we had that,” said spokesperson Peter De Waele. “For some time, concrete blocks have been placed at major events, so in this case we looked at whether we could create a sort of digital concrete blockade.”

The police turned to the national database maintained by the federal police, which lists not only criminal records but also other intelligence, such as who has received a stadium ban for public order offences. “Each case signalled by the database was also looked at individually, not only by a computer, and a limited selection made,” De Waele said.

The search concerned not only ticket-holders but also festival staff and volunteers. One of the Privacy Commission’s concerns is that the screening also covered foreign nationals who are not covered by the national database. About half of all Tomorrowland festival-goers come from outside the country.

“We also consulted a range of other databases to see if there were names of people we’d rather not see at Tomorrowland,” said De Waele.

According to a spokesperson for the festival, a more limited screening took place over the last six years, carried out by the local police of the Rupel zone. In those cases, too, a number of ticket-holders were refused entry.

A spokesperson for the Privacy Commission said that the screening was “in no way approved” in advance. It now intends to carry out an investigation together with the P Committee, which scrutinises police matters, and with the body charged with regulating the use of information by police services.

The Commission has two main objections: those denied access are not told on what basis the decision was taken and the selection is a unilateral decision on the part of the police, allowing those refused no possibility to contest the ban.

Ticket-holders refused access will be reimbursed for the price of their ticket, but not for the cost of travel or accommodation booked in advance. Tomorrowland, well known as the best dance festival in the world, is held in two parts: the first is 20-23 July and the second is 27-30 July.

Photo: Anosov1505/Wikimedia