NJ Transit Decision to No Longer Record Audio of Passengers a Win for Privacy, ACLU-NJ Says

The ACLU of New Jersey today applauded the news that NJ Transit has ended its practice of conducting audio surveillance on its light rail lines.

The following statement can be attributed to ACLU-NJ Deputy Legal Director Jeanne LoCicero:

“Faced with an outcry from riders and civil liberties advocates, NJ Transit has finally made the right decision to abandon its troubling audio surveillance program. The pervasive audio surveillance used on the light rail destroys our ability to have a personal conversation with a loved one on the train. We are glad NJ Transit has backed down from this extreme invasion of privacy.

“Not only was NJ Transit collecting countless hours of train conversations, but the agency irresponsibly failed to put policies in place to prevent misuse of the recordings or to protect passengers’ privacy. State agencies should think twice before dismissing New Jerseyans’ privacy rights so easily.

“We at the ACLU-NJ are glad that NJ Transit has shut off the microphones on its light rail trains and ended its mass audio surveillance of the public. We hope the agency thinks carefully about New Jerseyans’ privacy rights in all future decisions.”