Conversations of bus passengers to be recorded via surveillance devices

If being under the eye of big brother wasn’t enough, U.S. government officials are currently in the process of installing surveillance devices to record all conversations during bus rides while onboard.

The new surveillance system is said to be put into action in major transit hubs from San Francisco, California to Baltimore, Maryland.

The audio surveillance system will be linked with the existing cameras that the transit network has. All recordings will be stored in a “blackbox” installed on a bus which can be accessed to be reviewed later. The blackbox can hold upto as much as a month’s worth of recorded conversations.

According to what Geekosystem says:

While some believe that this system will provide new methods of security protection for both passengers and drivers, a number of folks feel that this is an infringement of basic civil liberties, especially when these transcribed conversations can be collected and scrutinized by officials without a warrant or under the supervision of the courts. Despite public outcry, the government is eager to work closely with transit authorities to have these systems installed. So much so that in San Francisco, the Department of Homeland Security is footing the entire bill to have audio surveillance put in place, while the federal government provides grants elsewhere.