Why Hong Kong protesters didn’t use own metro cards

Yesterday afternoon (June 12), as some protesters in Hong Kong appeared to be dispersing for a lunch break before regrouping later in the afternoon, I noticed something odd at the Admiralty subway station: instead of swiping through the turnstiles with their pre-paid, rechargeable cards, there were scores of people lining up at cash-only ticketing machines. One protester said they were afraid of having their card data traced back to them and used as proof that they were at the protest, should the police decide to press charges—as they did against key protest leaders from the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. The Hong Kong protesters’ behavior raises questions about data privacy, surveillance, and the dangers of “smart cities” as companies and governments sweep up ever-increasing troves of personal data.

Source: qz.com