(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY STEVEN HSIEH
You're watching multisource tech video news analysis from Newsy.
Bay Area Rapid Transit – or BART – faces criticism after it shut down cell phone service in select stations to thwart planned protests. Officials say it they were protecting the public. But critics – ranging from Hacktivist group Anonymous to the American Civil Liberties Union say BART took a cue from Big Brother.
Even a BART board member condemned the act – pointing to safety, as well as free speech concerns. Here’s KTVU.
“If someone has an emergency and they can’t get to their family, or their children, it just doesn’t work in my head… We’re not a third-world country. We shouldn’t be censoring things. You know, barring communication just takes us somewhere I don’t want to see BART go.”
Citizens were planning to protest against the fatal shooting of a homeless man by a BART police officer earlier this month. An SF Weekly blogger says BART’s preemptive response seemed, well, Middle Eastern.
“It’s a… terrible PR move. In the aftermath of a controversial officer-involved fatal shooting, BART probably doesn't want to invite comparison with the likes of, say, Hosni Mubarak. But that is exactly what it has done.”
BART points to subway protests last months that got out of hand. Officials say they had intelligence suggesting a similar scenario this time around. A Bay Area Deputy Police Chief spoke with CNN…
“There were layers upon layers of information leading us to believe that there is going to be some serious safety issues. When it comes down to it, would I want my loved one, my wife, my daughter, or someone else close to me on one of those platforms in a dangerous situation? The answer is no. And I think the vast majority of people would agree if they knew all the facts of what was going on. It was much more than a mere demonstration.”
BART says it staffed the stations adequately to deal with potential emergencies – and points to courtesy phones in stations and intercoms in Subway cars as able cell phone replacements.
But a writer for Tech Crunch says BART just doesn’t get it. Protests happen, people get hurt, but where would we be without them? He writes…
“Undermining the authority of Internet or cellular discourse, no matter how small the incident, sets the wrong precedent… How, if not for potentially violent demonstrations, would this country have accomplished any sort of civil, philosophical, or governmental progress forward?”
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the planned demonstration never actually happened.
'Like Newsy' on Facebook for more tech news in your newsfeed.
Transcript by Newsy.
