Most of you are missing the point. I'm from HK and have used this card on a daily basis for years.
Yes, you do have the choice of a plain Jane card or a card that can be linked to you (they even came out with a watch version a while back so you wave your watch in front of the sensor!) but the plain Jane card is not as anonymous as it seems.
When you recharge the card, you put the card in this machine and then either add cash or a bank card. All it needs is for you to be low on cash just once and use your bank card, and there you go, it's linked to you despite being an "anonymous card".
The tracking capabilities of this card is truly frightening. Anyone working for the subway or anything can pull up your travel history with the card, e.g.,
08/08/2001 11:07 - 11:16 X station - Y station 11:18 - 11:32 A station - B station (line change?) 14:32 - 14:46 B station - Y station 14:50 - 15:01 Y station - X station
Now, add to this bus rides, mini-bus rides, tram rides and you can track a person perfectly. And most people use these cards, even for five buck coffees!
So, now the data is completely collated: your petty purchasing habits (as it's a bit of a pain to refill it constantly and there's an upper limit so it's unlikely someone will spend more than say US$20 in one go with it - for the time being) and your movements are tracked perfectly. Forget CCTV's, there should be more of an uproar over accountability with regard to these types of cards.
Of course, I'll still keep using mine. I love the Octopus card; their convenience cannot be overempasised. But I'll have to try to resist the temptation to recharge, even just once, with my bank card. Call me paranoid...
On a side note, when they first starting promoting it, they had a big sign by the bus stop saying something like "Ride the buses with the new Octopus card" but as the letters were cut out stickers stuck onto the road-level billboard, someone switch around the letters so it read "Ride the pussy" for a good couple of weeks before anyone noticed. A catchier slogan I'm sure than whatever they came up with! (Yes, I realise that the anagram doesn't quite work with the original phrase but it was a while back...)
Slashdot Mirror
Most of you are missing the point. I'm from HK and have used this card on a daily basis for years.
Yes, you do have the choice of a plain Jane card or a card that can be linked to you (they even came out with a watch version a while back so you wave your watch in front of the sensor!) but the plain Jane card is not as anonymous as it seems.
When you recharge the card, you put the card in this machine and then either add cash or a bank card. All it needs is for you to be low on cash just once and use your bank card, and there you go, it's linked to you despite being an "anonymous card".
The tracking capabilities of this card is truly frightening. Anyone working for the subway or anything can pull up your travel history with the card, e.g.,
08/08/2001
11:07 - 11:16 X station - Y station
11:18 - 11:32 A station - B station (line change?)
14:32 - 14:46 B station - Y station
14:50 - 15:01 Y station - X station
Now, add to this bus rides, mini-bus rides, tram rides and you can track a person perfectly. And most people use these cards, even for five buck coffees!
So, now the data is completely collated: your petty purchasing habits (as it's a bit of a pain to refill it constantly and there's an upper limit so it's unlikely someone will spend more than say US$20 in one go with it - for the time being) and your movements are tracked perfectly. Forget CCTV's, there should be more of an uproar over accountability with regard to these types of cards.
Of course, I'll still keep using mine. I love the Octopus card; their convenience cannot be overempasised. But I'll have to try to resist the temptation to recharge, even just once, with my bank card. Call me paranoid...
On a side note, when they first starting promoting it, they had a big sign by the bus stop saying something like "Ride the buses with the new Octopus card" but as the letters were cut out stickers stuck onto the road-level billboard, someone switch around the letters so it read "Ride the pussy" for a good couple of weeks before anyone noticed. A catchier slogan I'm sure than whatever they came up with! (Yes, I realise that the anagram doesn't quite work with the original phrase but it was a while back...)