4 ms·

Several years ago while living in London we had a visit from the police because they were able to access my partner’s Oyster travel card registration details —

by knolan 8y ago

Several years ago while living in London we had a visit from the police because they were able to access my partner’s Oyster travel card registration details — she had provided her home address and I hadn’t. They were following up on an apparently minor assault and pulled tbe Oyster card details for everyone on a specific train. Considering this is a city with ubiquitous CCTV, smart phones are just another data source.

dazc 8y ago
Is there still any advantage to having a registered oyster card?
- heavenlyblue 8y ago
  Yeah - now they'll simply pull your contactless card details instead. No need to register at all.
- antihero 8y ago
  Yeah, because if you have a weekly/monthly Travel Card (worth it if you travel frequently), you can't load that onto a contactless card, just an Oyster. And if you lose that, it's £150+ down the drain unless it's registered.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
Jerry2 8y ago
>Considering this is a city with ubiquitous CCTV, smart phones are just another data source. London is quickly becoming one of the most dystopian cities in the world. I recently read a story [0] how London police are now face-scanning pedestrians and you are not allowed to cover up you face. If you protest this scanning, you're issued a £90 fine. You're basically treated like cattle. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recognition-cameras-technology-london-trial-met-police-face-cover-man-fined-a8756936.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recogniti...
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  It's like the middle ages all over again. Citizens are a resource of the land and have no say in things except in the most extreme cases. The people in charge only care about the masses insofar as it relates to GDP growth (or whatever their metric of the day is) and is perfectly happy to subjugate them for that goal. God forbid we endure some economic instability while we deal with social issues. /s I'm exaggerating but that sort of paternalistic authoritarianism seems to be more and more common among the politicians who's job it is to do things such as check the power of law enforcement.
- knolan 8y ago
  I was there during the riots, the extra police from up the country had their breakfast at our canteen in Imperial. It was surreal. Closest thing I’ve seen was when US troops used Shannon airport en masses during the Iraq war. When I got off the tube at my stop way out in zone 4 they had a surveillance van covered in cameras and other gear with a big LED display on the side with the words “WE ARE WATCHING”. It could be a strange place.

by knolan 8y ago

dazc 8y ago

Is there still any advantage to having a registered oyster card?

heavenlyblue 8y ago
Yeah - now they'll simply pull your contactless card details instead. No need to register at all.
antihero 8y ago
Yeah, because if you have a weekly/monthly Travel Card (worth it if you travel frequently), you can't load that onto a contactless card, just an Oyster. And if you lose that, it's £150+ down the drain unless it's registered.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

Jerry2 8y ago

>Considering this is a city with ubiquitous CCTV, smart phones are just another data source. London is quickly becoming one of the most dystopian cities in the world. I recently read a story [0] how London police are now face-scanning pedestrians and you are not allowed to cover up you face. If you protest this scanning, you're issued a £90 fine. You're basically treated like cattle. [0] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recognition-cameras-technology-london-trial-met-police-face-cover-man-fined-a8756936.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recogniti...

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
It's like the middle ages all over again. Citizens are a resource of the land and have no say in things except in the most extreme cases. The people in charge only care about the masses insofar as it relates to GDP growth (or whatever their metric of the day is) and is perfectly happy to subjugate them for that goal. God forbid we endure some economic instability while we deal with social issues. /s I'm exaggerating but that sort of paternalistic authoritarianism seems to be more and more common among the politicians who's job it is to do things such as check the power of law enforcement.
knolan 8y ago
I was there during the riots, the extra police from up the country had their breakfast at our canteen in Imperial. It was surreal. Closest thing I’ve seen was when US troops used Shannon airport en masses during the Iraq war. When I got off the tube at my stop way out in zone 4 they had a surveillance van covered in cameras and other gear with a big LED display on the side with the words “WE ARE WATCHING”. It could be a strange place.