Filming in taxis?

A newspaper article today about filming in taxis caught my attention. What was it all about? Well, it is something that is being trialled in Oslo, and has nothing to do with trying to get yourself noticed for the next big TV 'wannabe' show!

The system consists of a camera in the back of the taxi, which can be activated by the customer. If you feel your taxi driver is not going to take you home straight away, but go via some out of the way, desolate area and attack you you can turn on the camera which will stream real time video direct to the taxi rank's office. It has been developed as a personal security system and will hopefully deter certain drivers taking advantage of their young female customers. The film will only be looked at if someone reports an incident to the police. Otherwise it will be deleted unseen.

Of course, the thought did cross my mind that if a taxi driver really wants to do something, I suppose he could just sabotage the camera so it doesn't record. Wonder if that is possible? You could get a bit paranoid about the whole thing I guess.

The inventors of the system actually started out with the idea that all taxi journeys would be filmed but once the Data Protection Agency heard of those plans the idea was scrapped. People don't want to be filmed when they have had too much to drink or a fight with their boyfriend or girlfriend - plenty of that on YouTube already! Although if the film is supposed to be deleted unseen surely that would not be a problem.

Data Protection have no problem with a system that allows the consumer to choose whether or not they want to be filmed. Hopefully, the little button that starts the camera rolling is easy to see and easy to press - alcohol does tend to have an effect on fine motor skills, as anyone who has tried to walk in a straight line or touch their nose with their index fingers (don't you just love the US police programmes when they stop drunk drivers!) might agree with!