A woman caught smuggling tobacco into prison has been awarded a $1000 payout from TVNZ after they failed to properly hide her identity on their show Dog Squad.

The BSA upheld her complaint against the show and ordered TVNZ to pay her $1000 for the privacy breach.

Dog Squad is a reality TV show following dogs working for various government departments.

This episode showed Department of Corrections sniffer dogs searching the complainant as she visited a prison. One found contraband tobacco on her person while she was inside the building.

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The BSA agreed that Dog Squad did not take enough steps to hide the identity of the woman. Her face was blurred, but her clothing, body type and voice were apparent. The show also revealed that she was taking Tramadol and other prescription drugs, and that her partner was in prison.

The woman claimed that she did not give consent to the footage being aired, and was told that it was to be used solely for training purposes. TVNZ disputed this, claiming that she had given consent to be filmed for one of two searches. A transcript showed that she said "no" twice before saying "yes" after twelve minutes.

The BSA did not consider this to be informed consent, as she was surrounded by law enforcement officials and "obviously distressed and emotional".

TVNZ argued that the footage was of "direct public interest" as it showed the consequences of smuggling tobacco into prison. The BSA disagreed, arguing that this public interest message could have been delivered without identifying the woman.

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