Privacy Advocates Take Aim at Fargo Bus Surveillance and Audio Recordings
The surveillance is used to assist in investigations and solve disputes, but critics say it violates passengers’ rights to privacy.
The MATBUS services Fargo and Moorhead.
FARGO, N.D. — Controversy is swirling around the use of video surveillance and audio recordings onboard MATBUS, a bus service in Fargo and Moorhead.
As InForum reports, some critics are voicing their complaints over the use of the cameras and audio recordings, claiming it violates passengers’ rights to privacy.
Jeramie Scott of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., says the recordings might capture intimate conversations between passengers who might not realize they are being recorded. Meanwhile, Jennifer Book from the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota says people should not lose their right to privacy simply because they’re on a public bus.
The technology has been on the buses in Fargo since 1997, and in Moorhead since 2007, according to the report. While privacy advocates are concerned with the abuse of surveillance access, Lori Van Beek, a manager for MATBUS, says they do not have time to review the video surveillance unless there is a complaint filed or an issue they become aware of.
Privacy complaints are no stranger to the implementation of surveillance cameras. What has these critics particularly up in arms is the use of the audio recordings, which are used to assist in investigations revolving around harassment of passengers and drivers.
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Trivial conversations are not picked up by the recordings, Van Beek says. That leads the privacy advocates to ask why they’re even necessary in the first place. However, conversations near the bus driver or shouting can be picked up, which is helpful to police when looking into incidents.
Check out the entire report to hear both sides of the argument.
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