Slashdot Mirror
Maryland Public Buses Record Passengers' Conversations (washingtonpost.com)
mi writes: You may not have heard of it yet, but Maryland Transit Administration began recording passengers' conversations in 2012 — on its own initiative. Legislative efforts to put an end to the practice failed four times since then — but some State Senators keep trying "What [the MTA] is doing is a mass surveillance [...] I can make an argument to tape everybody, everywhere, everywhere they walk, everywhere they talk, and you can make the excuse for homeland security." If we had competing public transport companies, one could've switched to a privacy-respecting competitor. Alas, MTA holds a monopoly and legislation is the only recourse.
What happens if somebody comes along and says "I want those recordings please. Thank you."? Do they have to be censored? That sounds like fun. They really don't know what they are into.
Simple solution, every time you get on the MTA, play conversational bits from various movies in a low conversational volume, say: The Godfather, Goodfellas, Hannibal, etc....
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
What the MTA did / is doing is a crime under Maryland's wiretapping statute. Why have the responsible persons not been arrested and put on trial?
Probably because you own an automobile.
I think it's time for us to finally announce: Slashdot is pregnant. Hence the missed periods.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Google the names of senior executives at MTA and have conversations than slander their sexual habits, lack personal honesty, cruelty to animals and studying at a Bible University. Pepper your speech with copious profanity in multiple languages, making the task of humans who listen to this crap more onerous.
Feel free to have such conversations, even if you are alone, which at the least will get you a seat to yourself.
I ask you not to advocate any act of violence against anyone in this, but you can be creative. You and your (imaginary) friend can talk of how your coven of Devil Worshippers plan to put a curse on named senior execs at the bus company. ...or have loud conversations about how you're going to hold noisy messy protests outside the homes of named executives.
The poor sods who have to monitor this will have to pass the 'threats' up the management chain. Enough false positives will make them reconsider their approach.
Dominic Connor,Quant Headhunter
Video surveillance is less intrusive than audio. This may sounds off, but keep reading. Video records what people do, actions, things that have gone past thought, doubt, or discussion and into an effect on the rest of the world.
Audio recording picks up conversations. Two or more people who usually are not trying to involve anyone else, or maybe half of a phone call, or just someone grumbling about a bad day. Many people say things they would never do, and others will say things to friends that they do not want others to know. While a public bus is not the proper venue for such conversations, there is no justification for recording them.
If you want to make an argument that certain conflicts caught on the film would be more nuanced with the associated audio, having a 3 minute buffer and giving the driver a button to enable saving the feeds together would suffice.
I don't have a driver's license and I take mass transit everywhere I go.
I have for years and I rarely miss having a car.
I guess I just view the bus as a public place. People can record whatever they want in a public place.
If I were to set up a video camera in the public square and record video and audio there is nothing anyone can do about it. Your expectation for privacy is greatly reduced in public spaces.
If there is a sign stating that everything is being recorded and you are up to no good or are discussing secret things, probably best to avoid the public space that has this signage posted.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Your optimism shocks me... You think people picked up would be let go and the Gov would realize the error of their ways?
In Soviet 'Murka, they'd be charged with committing a terrorist act and some form of copyright infringement for unauthorized public performance of a work. And then tax dollars would be spent on an advertising campaign on the dangers of playing antisocial movies on the bus where your movie could be interpreted as a threat to commit an act of terror.
And the worst part is I only wish I was tinfoil hat, tongue in cheek here. I honestly don't think the above is even much of a stretch any more.
Seriously, that has to be the dumbest random libertarian aside I've ever seen in an article summary. "If we had competing public transport companies, one could've switched to a privacy-respecting competitor."
Seriously? That's how you decide to slip in your political commentary? Come on...
If we had competing public transport companies, one could've switched
Major cities do not run public transport because its a money-maker. They run it, usually at least somewhat subsidized by taxpayers, because their city needs an affordable public transportation system to operate smoothly.
The purpose of public transport is to provide a transportation grid that your citizens (particularly those without access to private personal transport) can use to get wherever they want/need to go around your city effectively. In general there isn't competition for that from private companies not because the city doesn't allow it, but because private companies don't want to do that. In fact, the profit motive would not allow them to. If it was left up to competing private companies, the only bus routes a city would have would lead to its racetracks and casinos (but the bonus is the rides would probably be free. At least inbound.).
If we had competing public transport companies, one could've switched to a privacy-respecting competitor.
It isn't easy to compete with an integrated and affordable mass transit system on this scale. Not to mention the small problem of finding a competitor who isn't keeping an eye on his own drivers and passengers.
MTA Maryland operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. There are 80 bus lines serving Baltimore's public transportation needs, along with other services that include the Light Rail, Metro Subway, and MARC Train. With nearly half the population of Baltimore residents lacking access to a car, the MTA is an important part of the regional transit picture. The system has many connections to other transit agencies of Central Maryland, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and south-central Pennsylvania (Hanover, Harrisburg, and York): WMATA, Charm City Circulator, Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland, Annapolis Transit, Rabbit Transit, Ride-On, and TransIT.
Daily ridership: 392,831 weekday average
Maryland Transit Administration
Maryland law requires two-party consent to record a conversation. This BS would get yourself jailed if you did it yourself.