Some government official probably scoffed at the need for password protection as "no one will know how to find the site".
More like being sold "assurances" and "standards" by some corporation sales talkers that did a terrible job as always.
9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
21–30 of 53 posts
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#22I live close enough to Sheffield to be caught by this. Hope that both South Yorkshire Police and the City council get some serious flak for this.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#23I hope somebody combs through the data and uses it to publish embarrassing trip sequences for public officials and their families because that's the only way politicians and local officials are gonna even consider not supporting these kinds of boondoogle dragnet projects.
When I read your comment, I realized I intuitively view open access to surveillance systems like this as more desirable than limited access, and I don't know how to articulate that feeling. I'd consider myself privacy-conscious, however it is clear that this sort of open access further limits my "privacy." I wonder if privacy advocacy is more about aversion to certain power imbalances rather than privacy as an end it…
The problem with "open" surveilance systems is they can be a useful tool for abusers to track down people who have escaped their clutches.
Know your target number plate? Oh look, they go to such and such supermarket at around 8pm every Friday.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#24So who gets the 4% of turnover GDPR fine here? Or is it under the law enforcement exemption?
Honest question: Is UK still under GDPR after Brexit?
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#25I hope somebody combs through the data and uses it to publish embarrassing trip sequences for public officials and their families because that's the only way politicians and local officials are gonna even consider not supporting these kinds of boondoogle dragnet projects.
When I read your comment, I realized I intuitively view open access to surveillance systems like this as more desirable than limited access, and I don't know how to articulate that feeling. I'd consider myself privacy-conscious, however it is clear that this sort of open access further limits my "privacy." I wonder if privacy advocacy is more about aversion to certain power imbalances rather than privacy as an end it…
It's a thorny problem.
While having everything be open would probably reduce double standards along the "government and people with influence" vs "non-government and people without influence" lines I am not sure it would be a net positive, or at least not enough to prefer an open approach to dragnet systems over not having them in the first place.
I would be very worried about "tyranny of the majority" type situation where a (large and or powerful enough) local majority uses the system to the detriment of some local (small enough or powerless enough) minority either under color of law or with a blind eye and/or tacit approval from the local powers that be. With a large enough majority vs a small enough minority government's hands may effectively be tied when it comes to preventing abuse and intervention from next higher level up level of government is not always forthcoming. We've all seen the way online communities engage in witch hunts. If the past is any example I don't think we can trust municipalities in possession of dragnets to not do the same if the contents of those dragnets are open to the public.
I think we can all agree that gay bar patrons in rural Alabama and gun shop patrons in urban Massachusetts, to name a couple examples, might not do too well under an "all the location data the local government has out in the open" type of surveillance scheme.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#26So who gets the 4% of turnover GDPR fine here? Or is it under the law enforcement exemption?
Is it a GDPR issue? You can't identify the driver from the number plate.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my country the government is exemp from fines for GDPR
this is a local council (as opposed to central government) though so I'm not sure how it spies in this situation.
It's still ultimately government fining its self. No point if it really is council run infrastructure. To punish them you need to vote out whoever commissioned this project (I realise that's unlikely to happen).
I'd be surprised though if it is really run by the council or just contracted out to some outsourcer. In which case they should be fined.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rather difficult to publish their results without admitting to a criminal offence..
is it a criminal offense to access an open website? if you had to use even a default password you could imagine it being improperly accessed,but if it's just open to the internet how is a criminal offence committed?
People have been tried and committed for crimes in court for this type of thing. It probably varies from country to country but there is definitely legal precedence that if you come across data that you know shouldn't be publicly accessible, you can't just pretend that it's okay to use it as if it was. Intent and common sense probably plays into it.
I would link some sources because you shouldn't trust just my vague memory, but it's incredibly difficult to find the right google search terms.
Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#29Re: 9M logs of Brits' road journeys spill from number-plate camera dashboard
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I read your comment, I realized I intuitively view open access to surveillance systems like this as more desirable than limited access, and I don't know how to articulate that feeling. I'd consider myself privacy-conscious, however it is clear that this sort of open access further limits my "privacy." I wonder if privacy advocacy is more about aversion to certain power imbalances rather than privacy as an end it…
The problem with "open" surveilance systems is they can be a useful tool for abusers to track down people who have escaped their clutches. Know your target number plate? Oh look, they go to such and such supermarket at around 8pm every Friday.
To fix this, personally I lean towards something like, "Privacy for the weak, transparency for the powerful."