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Claire Reilly writes about her commutes and other travels in Sydney, Australia while trying to avoid the excessive surveillance that arrived with the abolition of paper tickets. Australia passed invasive surveillance laws that also affect travel. It eventually emerged that authorities could search commuter card data tied to individual users, including all movement and payments.
I'm all for escaping the Orwellian nightmare of the modern surveillance state. But when you rage against the machine, you still have to associate with the bulls on parade.
All the top-up machines at train stations, light rail stops and ferry terminals were card-only affairs. One tap on that baby and you were back in the system.
So, if I was busing downtown for a work meeting, I'd have to factor in extra time to get to an ATM, get cash out and then find somewhere to top up my card. Running for the train with friends, I was the one who had to divert three blocks, change jackets, burn off my fingerprints and find a nondescript corner store to top up.
Here's what I learned.
She gave a good effort at traveling in traditional, anonymous style. Eventually, a shortfall of 9 cents made all the difference.
From CNet : How I went dark in Australia's surveillance state for 2 years
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @11:39AM (4 children)
We appreciate Ms Reilly's efforts, but rest assured that we knew. We knew what she was doing. When her patterns changed she popped up on our radar rather quickly. Not that we were initially concerned, but her ongoing success gave us insights into how to better track our subjects. Had any anti-governmental activities occurred in any area she visited we would have suspected her involvement simply because of her evasive exercises. If she's doing nothing wrong then she has nothing to hide.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @12:17PM
Where is the +1 for ominous?
Or maybe for +1 for Orwellian?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @12:48PM (2 children)
"her ongoing success".
No, she just thought she had limited success. In reality there was none. This whole thing was lame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 30 2018, @06:20PM
Shhh. You don't want to discourage women in tech, do you?
(Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Friday March 30 2018, @06:41PM
You think of the government as a unified entity. This is incorrect. She did have success at some levels. E.g. the transit authority didn't know who she was.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.