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Oxford City Council Mandates CCTV Cameras In Taxies by 2015

Posted by Unknown on from the you-have-nothing-to-hide-winston dept.

First time accepted submitter Beowulf878 writes "In yet another data-collection feast by the government in the UK, a local council has proposed fitting at least one CCTV camera per taxi to record every conversation. Obviously the reason given is our own safety. Thoughts?"

25 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Well, I have one.... by RobinEggs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Obviously we can't have a discussion without the summary all but telling us how we're supposed to react.

    Thoughts?

    1. Re:Well, I have one.... by stms · · Score: 3, Funny

      I for one support our omnipotent taxi monitoring overlords.

    2. Re:Well, I have one.... by wvmarle · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And without any indication on how the video is used. Who stores the video, and how? How long is it stored? Watched on random basis or in case of reported problems only? So many unknowns here, hard to give an opinion on it.

      But well who needs to know the answer to those basic questions anyway.

    3. Re:Well, I have one.... by Builder · · Score: 4, Informative

      The rioting had nothing to do with the fact that the police are dangerous. The rioting had everything to do with the fact that criminal scum wanted free stuff.

      75% of the people arrested as part of the riots so far had previous convictions. Around 20% had more than 10 previous convictions. These were not law abiding citizens fighting the man.

    4. Re:Well, I have one.... by xaxa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The most relevant opinion is from the Information Commissioner's Office, the government organisation that enforces the privacy laws:

      An ICO spokeswoman said the plans were "highly intrusive and unlikely to be justified".

      So it's unlikely to happen.

      Other articles (linked from the main one) suggest it's the taxi drivers who want this to "protect" themselves from drunk and rowdy passengers, though I'm not sure why that requires audio recording. It's hardly going to fix the problem though.

    5. Re:Well, I have one.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      The ongoing riots were to do with people wanting to get in on the looting, but the spark to the powder keg was the way the police handled an arrest/shooting. You could just as well say the protests in Egypt that got Mubarak removed were about criminal scum wanting free stuff, there was a lot of looting happening at the same time, but people always want free stuff, we don't just see spontaneous looting without a sufficient number of people feeling sufficiently badly treated at the same time and wanting to make their voices heard.

  2. The only safety a government cares about . . . by Mitchell314 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    is its own.

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    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  3. How many taxi drivers are robbed? by couchslug · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In a society where crime isn't really "punished", the only other deterrent must be a police state where there is no sanctuary.

    As societies must include anyone who wants to do anything they like and must admit anyone from anywhere regardless of their culture, keeping order becomes more challenging because the only alternative to (vanishing) SELF-discipline is IMPOSED discipline.

    This sucks, but is better than the Clockwork Orange world of no order at all.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    1. Re:How many taxi drivers are robbed? by sqrt(2) · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I prefer to take a page from socialism, and a page from libertarianism, and create a new book that works better than either one alone. Nothing in your personal life affects me, so I should have no say over it. I don't care who you marry, have sex with, what you put in your body or if you end your life. But your economic life effects me and everyone else in this society, so it should be partially regulated. With the right balance, and the a healthy amount of vigilance by the populace, this system can work. It's worked in the past, it works now, it can work for our future.

      --
      If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
    2. Re:How many taxi drivers are robbed? by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 4, Funny

      The only reason you don't rape and murder is because you'd be punished if you did, right?

      Definitely. As I've played many violent video games, I already have the mentality of a murderer. The only thing that is keeping me from murdering people indiscriminately is my fear of being punished!

      --
      Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
  4. Had them for a while... by billcopc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here in Ottawa, we've had cameras in taxis for a while. I have no idea if anything has come of it, other than the added expense for each taxi owner of a possibly useless camera. Seems to me like the camera supplier is in bed with the city councillor...

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    -Billco, Fnarg.com
    1. Re:Had them for a while... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...Seems to me like the camera supplier is in bed with the city councillor...

      Was there a camera? Do you have that on video?

  5. Old News by skine · · Score: 4, Funny

    Porn companies have been doing this for years.

  6. Sydney taxis by Captain+Sensible · · Score: 5, Informative

    CCTV cameras have been fitted to taxis in Sydney for several years now at the request of the drivers. The hope is that this deters robberies. Does it work? I have never seen any figures - does anyone else know? They have also been fitted in State Transit buses with newer buses having a least three. In this case while it does not deter theft or assault it does lead to convictions. Also some entertaining reality TV on the news each night.

    1. Re:Sydney taxis by Sqr(twg) · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A Danish security firm says that attempted robberies went down by 80 % after they put stickers saying "taxi under camera surveillance" on cars belonging to Copenhagen taxi. Actual cameras were not allowed in taxis in Denmark at the time.

  7. Re:haha brits are treated like children by gumbi+west · · Score: 4, Informative

    Every cab/limo in NYC has a camera in it.

  8. Re:haha brits are treated like children by Nursie · · Score: 4, Informative

    So this is one city in the UK as compared to -

    The whole of Australia already has this.
    As does New Zealand
    As do Toronto and Winnipeg
    NYC requirees either a camera or a partition.
    Yellow Cabs in houston also have them.

    This is to stop cab drivers getting robbed and murdered, not to spy on who is going where.

  9. Surprised politicians would go for this... by Nick+Ives · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm from Blackpool and, back in the day, both main parties used to have their conferences here every other year. My parents operated a taxi so they always overheard lots of gossip from the MPs they were ferrying around.

    Having the goings on in the back of a taxi being recorded by default would be staggering. No politician or business person could so much as have a phone conversation under those circumstances! I bet every pissant local government hack in Oxford will be trying to justify having a private driver, paid for by the council, when this comes into force.

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    Nick
  10. Wow by TennCasey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It never ceases to amaze me just how accurate George Orwell was about where England was going.

  11. Fitted in New Zealand since August by flibbajobber · · Score: 4, Informative

    They've been compulsorily fitted to taxis in New Zealand since August. Taxi companies fitted them at their own expense. Drivers are saying they feel safer, and the industry is claiming the amount of abuse against drivers have dropped and the cameras have directly led to arrests, including for several very serious incidents. Despite the camera systems costing upwards of $1000 per vehicle, the drivers are saying it's money well-spent.

    So please ignore the cynicism of the Slashdot submitter & editor - they evidently do improve driver safety.

  12. When will Britain get a charter of rights? by kawabago · · Score: 4, Funny

    The British don't have anything to protect them from their Government, I guess because their Government was set up to protect them from their King.

  13. Re:Firearms Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not like you Americans are any better off, with your firearms rights. I've yet to hear of a single firearm being turned on a police officer who's assaulting a citizen who has offered no resistance at all, during the Occupy protests.

  14. I read the article and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...points some people seem to be missing are:

    * An ICO spokeswoman said the plans were "highly intrusive and unlikely to be justified".
    * A council spokeswoman said the "video and *audio* would run all the time within the vehicle".
    * ...the scheme, which includes both black cabs and private-hire vehicles.

    So, it's likely that there will be a complaint from a civil liberties group to the Information Commissioner's Office, and the ICO is already regarding the plans as intrusive and unlikely to be justifiable. The plan is to include audio - which is unlike schemes in other towns and countries, which use video only. The scheme extends to black cabs, which have always (well, as long as I can remember...) partitioned the driver from the passenger(s).

    This is a Slashdot post because this *is* a new idea, quite unlike CCTV in taxis in other parts of the world. It raises the bar for intrusive surveillance. It's likely that even the CCTV-friendly UK state is going to oppose the scheme.

  15. The Cab Drivers Don't Want It, Nor Do We..... by Sylvanus · · Score: 3, Informative

    I live in Oxford and the cab drivers hate this idea. It's going to cost them at least £460 each at time when most of them are struggling to survive. They're also convinced its about snooping on them and have all raised privacy concerns. The council has refused to say who will have access to the tapes or what protections there will be.

    Most Oxford cab drivers are Asian and few can afford to live in Oxford itself and so drive in from surrounding towns. There are hordes of them demonstrating at the town hall before every council meeting but the councillors don't seem to care - whether their lack of local vote is causing that or not, I don't know. Every cab driver I've spoken to believes someone in the council is 'receiving inducements' for this - no idea if its true!

    Oxford City Council is hardcore Labour / militant and seems to regard large sections of the public as the enemy. Its elected by a bunch of leftist academics who have little idea or connection about the real world. Remember it was the last Labour government that tried to introduce ID cards, 90 days detention without charge and seems to have been complicit in torture. CCTV in taxis seems like a logical development!

    http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2011/11/14/Oxford+news+(om_oxfordnews)/9361537.Taxi_CCTV_breaks__rights_to_privacy_/

  16. This is just one local council by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is an action by one local council, probably trying to make some sort of political statement. Councils of this level are very low-powered in this country and frequently full of jumped up jobsworths who want to be important.

    It is highly unlikely this will come to anything: notice the comment in TFA by the Information Commissioner's Office that the plans are "highly intrusive and unlikely to be justified". (For those outside the UK: The ICO is our central, national-level oversight body for things like data protection and freedom of information.)

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