Privacy Issues

Introduction

Americans have an expectation that their private information will not be subject to collection and disclosure by government entities, including public transportation providers. The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures" and this includes not just evidence of criminal activity but any information for which there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy. Generally speaking, activities undertaken in public, in plain view of others, such as riding on public transit is not entitled to the expectation that it is private. However, the increasing development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) capable of collecting large amounts of data about individual passengers raises questions whether some degree of privacy protection may be not only warranted but expected by the public at large.

Further Reading

Transit Cooperative Research Program, Legal Research Digest 25, "Privacy Issues with the Use of Smart Cards," April 2008.

This report examines basic privacy issues associated with the collection, use, and storage of financial and trip data associated with the use of transit smart cards.

Transit Cooperative Research Program, Legal Research Digest 14, "Treatment of Privacy Issues in the Transit Industry," March 2000.

This report discusses various privacy issues that may arise within the public transportation industry both in the workplace and involving customers and their private information.