BART's story about their cell phone shutdown doesn't add up for me.

[EFerrari]

I just watched this 10 minute interview that my friend did with the BART spokesman yesterday and their story just doesn't add up for me.

http://7liveonline.com/video?i%E2%80%8Bd=8308005&syndicate=syndicate

For one thing, the spokesman claims that the shutdown was his idea. Does that make sense to anyone? Spokesmen usually aren't tapped for security strategy and tactics, are they?

For another thing, BART has been risk adverse since they started running. Their cops are thugs, but the management has always been pretty conservative. I don't see them hauling off and shutting down cell phone service on the advice of one of their PR guys without consulting the state or the Feds. It's out of character.

Plus, BART got off a video campaign nearly immediately that was very polished. It's possible that they learned from their last PR fiasco that they need to win the public opinion war first and fast but I don't recall them being able to put a professional quality video out in one day (if not hours) before this. This was uploaded Friday, 8/12, only 1 day after the shutdown. So, when did they have time to hire those actors?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsKEvd6gH0A

And then there's is the FCC investigation.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/238160/fcc_investigates_bart_over_cellphone_shutdown.html

Has the FCC ever responded in less than a week to anything?

:shrug:

Anyway, what do you think? Props to Brian for pushing on the BART spokesman, too.

[saras]

1. BART seems to be going out of their way to inconvenience other travelers

I suspect they are deliberately trying to provoke anti-protester sentiment. Which also implies a well-designed PR program.

[EFerrari]

2. I personally don't believe that BART is doing this on their own.

They've never been this coordinated.

[elehhhhna]

10. the spokesman is aPR guy, and the decision was a PR matter

in their eyes. They were supressing bad pr.


Simply Fascisistic!!!

[EFerrari]

11. With all the emergency service people that you can find at a BART station

there's no way this was a PR decision. I don't buy it but that's what they're selling, isn't it?

[KamaAina]

7. San Francisco Muni shares those four downtown stations with BART

The stations are strung along Market St. every few blocks. Muni Metro (SF only, sort of like Boston's Green Line) is on the upper level and BART is on the lower. Both were shut down.

[EFerrari]

3. I'm going to kick this a couple of times for responses.

This is the first time any agency has shut down the net in this country.

[joshcryer]

13. Wrong. U.S. Government Accidentally Abuses Internet "Kill Switch", Shuts off 84,000 Sites

http://www.dailytech.com/US+Government+Accidentally+Abuses+Internet+Kill+Switch+Shuts+off+84000+Sites/article20934.htm

This is a common theme, but compared to the kill switch and compared to union supported COICA, BART's actions are trivial.

Meanwhile the FCC acted almost immediately to question Apple over the banning of Google's VOIP application.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/26545310-7e41-11de-8f8d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1VFmgr083

:eyes:

[Luminous Animal]

4. Trial run? We need to create protest smoke signals.

[EFerrari]

5. Telecomix and others are providing work arounds

as they did in Egypt. But, this whole thing is a little too slick if you think about how BART usually handles things, imo.

[LeftyMom]

6. Agreed.

These are the people who can't even manage to sell tickets and load people on trains efficiently for planned special events, so I'd be very surprised if they had their shit together in a crisis.

[Ignis]

8. Good questions. It doesn't pass the smell test, for me.

:kick:

[EFerrari]

9. Here are some pix from yesterday:

http://cryptome.org/info/cell-protest/cell-protest.htm

There's something wrong with this story. I don't know what it is but I don't think it's that BART suddenly had a personality change.

[EFerrari]

12. Oh, and if you've ever commuted on BART, you'll find the actors

playing passengers in the video I linked pretty funny, especially the one who turns around and says, "Good night, officer" as she exits the train. In all the years I used BART, I never saw anyone do that. lol