The old switcheroo
Editor, The Times:
Let Big Brother watch me use my ORCA card [“ORCA card worry: Boss could track your travel,” page one, Dec. 18].
I don’t care.
By the time he starts to watch me, my card will be in the hands of someone else. I already have a pretty big group of like-minded friends who plan on having an ORCA card trading party as soon as our employers give them out.
So when my boss wants to see where I have been, all he is going to find out is where my neighbor went.
A simple plan to thwart a stupid idea.
— Mike Crowley, Seattle
I’m not exposing my child to this
In “ORCA card worry: Boss could track your travel,” it mentioned people could assure privacy by purchasing a nonsubsidized card and not registering it.
Actually, this is not true if the purchaser is under 18 years old. I went to purchase my 6-year-old son an ORCA card. I was told I would not be permitted to get him a youth pass unless I was willing to give his name, birth date and full address.
I am deeply upset. I do not want all of my children’s personal information and movement patterns a matter of public record. This is not only an invasion of privacy, it’s a major safety concern. My current solution is to get a number of youth ORCA passes, register them to fictitious names, addresses and birth dates, and rotate them randomly.
The ORCA card needs to record whether it is loaded with a current pass, what kind of pass it is loaded with, and any current balance in the e-purse. All other information regarding ridership can be gathered from simple counters on the busses, the same way ridership is counted when cash is used.
If ORCA wants to allow people to register their cards and protect their balances, lovely. I think it’s a service many would appreciate. But requiring it? No way.
ORCA not only allows employers to monitor their employees, ORCA also forbids parents from protecting their own children’s privacy. That is outrageous.
— Karen Crisalli Winter, Seattle