As a result of receiving a threatening letter from the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild for distributing a newsletter produced on the job by a public employee, I submitted the following public records request to the Seattle Police Department on May 5, 2011:
Continue reading »
After witnessing an auto accident involving a police officer who seems to have lied about the circumstances, I submitted to Seattle Police Department today:
Continue reading »
Last February, I learned that the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (the bridge over Lake Washington on State Route 520) would soon become a tollway, that there would not be any tollbooth for the bridge, and that drivers would have three options for payment: 1) create an account with Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and affix an RFID tag to the associated vehicle so that it can be identified when crossing the bridge, 2) create an account with WSDOT and rely on a license plate scanner (similar to that which Seattle Police Department use) to identify the associated vehicle when it crosses, or 3) rely on a license plate scanner to identify the vehicle and have a bill mailed to the registered owner. Option #3 is the most expensive. #1 is the least expensive. I’ve since learned of another option, an “unregistered pass account” that can be created anonymously, prepaid, and associated with an RFID tag.
News of this system concerned me, as it seemingly prevented anonymous travel across the bridge. I don’t believe our government should be keeping records of our travels, regardless of the intended purpose of those records. I would happily slow down and pay a cash toll if by doing so I could maintain the ability to travel around without having to identify myself to anyone and without someone keeping a log of where I’ve been. I generally trust the people at WSDOT to not to misuse that information, but I would prefer not to need to trust them — not to mention everyone with access to that information in the future — with it.
In a WSDOT e-mail newsletter I received later in February, a representative wrote, “Got a burning question about I-5, SR 99, SR 520 or I-90? I bet I can find the answer. Send your Seattle area highway related questions or comments to Broch Bender at Benderb@wsdot.wa.gov.” I had several burning questions, and took him up on the offer. He replied, “You’ve raised some interesting questions. Unfortunately, I do not have any of the answers. Don’t fret. I am copying Janet Matkin at our SR 520 Good to Go! Tolling office. I bet she’ll be able to find them out for you.”
Ms. Matkin reported in March that she was busy opening a new customer service center. In early May, just as I was considering either contacting her superior or filing public records requests for related e-mails to get to the bottom of things, she responded thoroughly. My questions and her answers follow (hyperlinks added). Continue reading »
Yesterday around 5:30 p.m., I was at my friend Ben’s home when we heard a loud noise outside. I thought it sounded like a car had run into something. Within a few seconds of the noise, a police car siren came on. I ran outside to see what had happened. Two cars, a blue SPD [...]
Monday morning, hours after awaking to news that American spies and military had sneaked into Pakistan and assassinated someone accused of but never tried for horrible crimes, I was preparing to head downtown to the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building Building in Seattle to participate in a protest of federal meddling in state cannabis policy. [...]
Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG) publishes a monthly newsletter called The Guardian. A couple months ago, I downloaded past issues of the newsletter from their Web site and posted them on Scribd, so it would be easier for the public to find them. There had been much discussion in the news at that time of [...]
We at Cannabis Defense Coalition have been tracking SB 5073, a medical marijuana bill now making its way through the Washington State legislature. Introduced by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the bill would have wide-ranging effects on the medical marijuana law voters passed by citizen’s initiative in 1998. We held a well-attended public forum last October at [...]
The ORCA (“One Regional Card for All”) Card is a contactless, stored value smart card used for payment of public transportation fares in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. The card, based on a standard ISO 14443 smart card (specifically, using the MIFARE DesFIRE chip) was introduced in 2009.
Concerned about privacy issues surrounding this system, I asked several related questions by submitting them using a contact form on the ORCA Web site on July 28, 2009. In response, ORCA staff have avoided my questions, provided what now appears to have been false information, and ignored my requests for clarification. It seems they’re also backing away from an agreement not to provide employers information about their employees’ off-work travel using public transit.
Are Seattle police tracking the movement of law-abiding citizens? They have the technology to do so. I’d like to find out how they’re using automated license plate recognition (ALPR) now and what limitations we’ve placed on use of these devices.
Last week, I noticed that Harrisburg International Airport was soliciting aviation-related questions via Twitter: “Great,” I thought, “I have lots of aviation-related questions.” I asked several questions, but I was using a flaky mobile phone browser, and only one of them, about airport security cameras, made it to Twitter: Their answer came promptly: Next, I [...]
Recent Comments