Now when you take the T-CAT bus around Cornell University and Ithaca they’ll be watching you through their new card-reader system. Of course, they claim that data will only be collected in the aggregate, but without independent verification I refuse to believe them (on principle, of course):

Lieb said riders should not be concerned about privacy issues — TCAT will only collect the aggregate data (how many riders get on at each stop, whether they are students, staff or faculty and if they are OmniRide participants). “No personal data is being transmitted,” he said. “The reader is checking whether or not a particular card is valid at that place and time.”

The CU ID FAQ tries to explain this with different wording:

TCAT will collect ridership information from the stop locations where CU ID cards have been used, but the information is confidential. No personal information is collected, stored, or transferred to TCAT.

I actually feel confused–”TCAT will collect information but no information is collected to TCAT” is what that says. Well, you know that when the next big Cornell crime occurs the police will subpoena TCAT for information about which bus you took at which time, powerful evidence for firming up a time line.