A tweet that giving unique advice on how to report hate crimes on London buses has gone viral.
Patrick Strudwick, an editor at Buzzfeed, tweeted the advice after allegedly attending a hate crime event ran by the Met. He wrote:
Just been at a hate crime event with the Met police + they told me something really useful. If youre on a bus + you witness a hate crime, if you give the police the number on the back of your Oyster/debit card, they can trace the bus + every passenger on it to find the culprit.
Reaction to the method being used by police has been mixed.
Leila Abboud commented: Thats good but terrifying. Surveillance society baby.
Peter Bradley said: Creepy. 1984 well and truly with us.
Just been at a hate crime event with the Met police + they told me something really useful.
If youre on a bus + you witness a hate crime, if you give the police the number on the back of your Oyster/debit card, they can trace the bus + every passenger on it to find the culprit.
— Patrick Strudwick (@PatrickStrud) May 24, 2018
Silkie Carlo, a director for Big Brother Watch, an independent non-profit organisation fighting for the protection of privacy and civil liberties in the UK, told metro.co.uk:
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This police advice demonstrates the extraordinary extent of our surveillance society and the sheer volume of sensitive data at their fingertips.
It is really quite chilling that an allegation of a loosely defined hate crime could so easily lead to hundreds of passengers being investigated. It is not at all clear whether this kind of data access would even be lawful.
TFL and The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.
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