[LINK] myki - a tracking device (was Re: more myki pain)

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 09:40:41AM +1000, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> At 09:28 AM 11/04/2010, Tom Worthington you wrote:
> > http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-tram-plan-could-get-myki-back-on-track-20100409-rysb.html
> >
> >No. According to the article in the Age, the problem is that the
> >Melbourne fare structure is distance based.
>
> Yes. They can't make it work TECHNICALLY because the comms break too
> often on board and between the tram and the central data hub. As long
> as they need some sort of determination of fare on the account in
> real-time, this won't work or will have points of failure, which was
> my main point.

AFAICT, unless the Vic govt and transport ministry is completely stupid
or completely corrupt (i wouldn't entirely rule out either), the real,
unstated reason behind myki is the ability to track where individuals
travel to and from, and where they are at the moment. this, of course,
requires real-time networking.

this kind of spying/tracking is the only reason i can see why so much
money has been wasted on myki and why they've continually thrown good
money after bad when it's been obvious for years that myki is an abject
failure. and it's so morally repugnant and big-brotherish that they
don't dare admit that it's the real reason.


BTW, last i heard, they claimed they were going to offer an "anonymous"
myki card option but a) it was only semi-anonymous, and b) the hassle
of getting one and putting more credit into it meant you had to be
seriously into wearing tin-foil hats to bother (which means that buying
or using one inherently undermines the pseudo-anonymity even further
because they make you stand out of the crowd).

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>