Privacy group concerned about TransLink Compass Cards
Posted January 16, 2013 5:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – TransLink Compass Cards come into effect soon, and a privacy group says it is concerned over how the pass can track the trips you take.
Compass Cards are reloadable, electronic fare card that works everywhere on transit in Metro Vancouver.
So why would this information be needed in the first place?
Derek Zabel with TransLink says one function would be to track passenger travel to find out what the busiest stations are for example.
He says your personal information would not be connected to this card though.
“We’ll have two separate un-linked databases in a secure back-end of the system. One database will have all the trip origins and destinations so that we can put the right service capacity to where it will serve the region most effectively.”
But Josh Paterson with the BC Civil Liberties Association says tracking user habits could still be an issue. “It is therefore possible to create a picture of any particular user, where you could expect them to be at certain times of the day, and that could be used in the wrong way.”
“So I don’t know exactly the technicalities of what they are going to be doing with these databases, but obviously it is going to be possible to link these two sets together,” adds Paterson.
But there is a way to remain anonymous by using an unregistered card.
