like 70% of all the "unchecked state power goes nuts on an assault against privacy and civil liberties" stories, this one comes to us from across the pond in the U.K...
Oyster [an RFID subway card] data use rises in crime clampdown
i don't want people thinking that i'm surprised by this... it's to be expected that law enforcement agencies who have historically had little to no limits on their power over citizens will always jump on the latest technology and try to squeeze every little bit they can out of it.
i'm just saddened that citizens don't fight back against it anymore. addiction to convenience is the greatest threat to security with respect to users who many of us face in our jobs, and the same holds true for civillians and their interaction with the government. you can put up a sign on a busy highway that says "super express lane next exit... submit to a full search of your car, a fingerprinting, and a piss test... then you get to drive at 90 miles per hour in a lane with almost no cars!!" and you'd have a line of vehicles stretching back for half a mile as people try to get on to that road.
Oyster [an RFID subway card] data use rises in crime clampdown
Figures disclosed today show a huge leap in police requests to Transport for London, which operates the Oyster cards used to travel on buses, trains and the underground. Just seven information requests were made by police in the whole of 2004, compared with 61 requests made in January this year alone. Overall, police have requested to see journey information 243 times, and been given it 229 times, according to figures obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request, the Press Association reported.
i'm just saddened that citizens don't fight back against it anymore. addiction to convenience is the greatest threat to security with respect to users who many of us face in our jobs, and the same holds true for civillians and their interaction with the government. you can put up a sign on a busy highway that says "super express lane next exit... submit to a full search of your car, a fingerprinting, and a piss test... then you get to drive at 90 miles per hour in a lane with almost no cars!!" and you'd have a line of vehicles stretching back for half a mile as people try to get on to that road.
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