Oxford City Council Mandates CCTV Cameras In Taxies by 2015 235
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?"
Had them for a while... (Score:5, 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...
Sydney taxis (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.
Re:haha brits are treated like children (Score:5, Informative)
Every cab/limo in NYC has a camera in it.
Re:haha brits are treated like children (Score:5, 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.
Fitted in New Zealand since August (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.
I read the article and... (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". ...the scheme, which includes both black cabs and private-hire vehicles.
* A council spokeswoman said the "video and *audio* would run all the time within the vehicle".
*
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.
The Cab Drivers Don't Want It, Nor Do We..... (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_/ [oxfordmail.co.uk]
This would be nice in Portugal (Score:2, Informative)
This would be nice in Portugal, we get lots of violence and robberies in our TAXI's, this would be a great way to defend the customer.
Yes it's the other way around here, the customer's the victim!
Wish we had these cameras for some time here, I could have gotten quite a few taxi drivers fired and even arrested for the crap they do to customers.
Re:Well, I have one.... (Score:5, 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.
Re:How many taxi drivers are robbed? (Score:2, Informative)
(...) Nothing in your personal life affects me, so I should have no say over it. (...) what you put in your body or if you end your life.
Except for the few quoted exceptions, you are basically describing any Scandinavian country...
Re:Well, I have one.... (Score:3, Informative)
This is just one local council (Score:5, 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.)