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Small Print / Large Print

"All occupants will be photographed" in a San Francisco taxi. The point at which you become aware you are under surveillance and at that point, what you can(not) do about it.

As a rentable public / private space - people get up to relatively interesting things in Taxis - and as societal attitudes to things like privacy evolve, is it ripe for change? For example? Taking the same 'small print' thinking in the taxi to other domains: "Conversations are monitored to provide better service" i.e. we record and sort-of anonymise your conversations using the taxi-ad-platform to serve up more relevant advertising.

Related: Taxis are interesting environments in that they are often treated as a temporary private space - in which people can relax and objects are likely to spread out within the natural boundaries of the environment. When combined with other parameters such as: people using taxi's whilst tired or impaired e.g. drunk/high; the likelihood of using the mobile phone in the taxi; placing objects on the seat/out of sight after use; and a pressured sequence of tasks at the end of the journey such as thinking what to do next on arrival at the destination and paying the driver, help explain why mobile phones are often left in taxis. Taken from this post on carrying behaviours.

Writing from San Francisco | September 28, 2007 | Permalink