The NSW Government has moved to defend a sponsored trial of ‘free’ wi-fi on buses.

The so-called “CATCH” wi-fi service will be operated by advertising giant APN Outdoor, but has been criticised already for its wide-ranging terms of use.

The terms indicate APN Outdoor will be allowed to collect personal information including “name, address, date of birth, location details, drivers licence details, photographs, video, credit card details, employer and other details”.

The broad terms indicate that the information could be sold to third parties to tailor advertising and “offers” to passengers.

NSW Greens MP and transport spokesperson Dr Mehreen Faruqi slammed the planned trials.

“It is deeply concerning that the personal information of commuters will be harvested for targeted advertising,” Dr Faruqi told Fairfax.

“If the cost of installing the system is being recovered by passengers becoming advertising targets, this must be made crystal clear up front.”

A State Transit spokesperson said CATCH is “purely an opt-in service”.

“Customers would only be required to enter personal details such as their address, date of birth etc. if they were to actively opt-in to entering a promotion, competition or other transaction on the CATCH network,” the spokesperson said.

Reports say passengers do not have to physically enter personal information to use CATCH, but the service will still collect whatever data it can, and it is unclear just what device permissions the service seeks.