[IP] Is there any right to privacy?
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Kobrin, Steve" <kobrins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 16, 2005 5:13:32 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Is there any right to privacy?
I just took a cab from the SF airport into the city and noticed a
sticker that said something to the effect that the cab was equipped
with a camera and pictures would be taken of every passenger. Sure
enough there was a large camera port staring at me from the top of
the dashboard.
What right does a taxi company have to take my picture as a condition
of transport? Whose business is it other than mine that I choose to
take a taxi at any point in time? Any argument that pictures of taxi
passengers could be valuable in solving a crime or terrorist attack
is true but trivial. So would embedded RFD tags in all of us or a
complete map of surveillance cameras in every city. At some point,
the invasion of privacy has to be justified in terms of potential
results.
Furthermore, as I suspect that not every passenger in a taxi would
like who they are riding with or where they are going – to say
nothing of what they may be doing in the back seat -- to be public
knowledge, the potential for misuse of this information is very real.
Steve
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/