I blogged in outrage about the incident in the London Tube yesterday, that our friend Jonathan MacDonald JMac had blogged about. So briefly, an elderly man had his arm caught in the London Underground train doors, and after the incident, the station staff were not helpful to him, but abusive, threateniging, and even in the end, a platform staff member "Ian" suggested that the elderly man should be slung under an approaching train. Luckily JMac was quick eoungh to catch part of this on video, including the unbelievable comment of sliginging the elderly man under a train.
At JMac's blog there are already several dozen comments and the story is spreading on Twitter etc - any of our readers, please do blog about it, or tweet about it and spread the story. As it happens, the unfriendly guy, Ian the Idiot, has been having moments of megalomania before, so he clearly is in some severe need of re-training to learn how to be a customer service person. But as I am still fuming by this injustice, I am thinking of the other Tube person, the lady who asked JMac to stop video recording. Why did she do that? Does she even have the right to do that? And what should we - as society - do about it.
Clearly then Tube Lady did not think, that a video recording of the incident would be useful. Useful for whom? to Improve the quality of customer service at the Tube? or actually, she knew that what was happening was not totally ok, and she and her colleague Idiot Ian, would prefer this evidence not be collected of his behavior. She KNEW it was not going to look good on any performacne review.
Isn't this EXACTLY the RIGHT time for all to start to video record? If someone in position of power, asks you to stop recording an incident. I do not mean nuclear secrets and areas where clearly it is posted that video recording is not allowed, like say the customs area of airports. We can see the signs. But there are no signs in the Tube saying you cannot video record. There are prohibitions that flash photography is not allowed, as the flash can blind a train operator just as they come out of the dark tunnel. But the tube is a public space, and people video record in them all the time. The London Tune is the worlds longest underground system, the oldest underground, and a very famous London landmark. It is popularly photographed and videotaped by tourists all the time.
So now this Tube lady asked JMac to stop recording. JMac obviously a law-abiding citizen, followed that request. But what i suggest we as society should do - is in any such situation, we all should immediately take out our cameraphones and start to snap pictures of the scene - pictures of both Ian the Idiot and his colleague the lady - and yes, all others to start to video record. Imgine the Rodney King beatings in California over a decadea ago. The LA Police would have dearly wanted that the person stop video recording - but the police were abusing their power. We NEED to record such instances of abuse.
Furthermore - what would it say of the intent of customer service of say the London Tube or the famous double-decker busses or some department store, etc - if their stated policy is to explicitly ALLOW and ENCOURAGE the video taping of any incident in their public spaces? Wouldnt that send out a message loud and clear, that the citizens are explicitly empowered to record indicidents, and that no officials have a right to stop it.. and that the Tube lady would not have any authority to ask someone to stop recording?
I think this calls for some citizen revolt, don't you?
FOLLOW-UP, three hours later, the Mayor of London has weighed in, asking Transport for London to do an urgent review of this incident; and the first newspaper, Telegraph, has covered the story with interview of JMac. Communities Dominate! The fascinating part - The Tube "spokesperson" said "London Underground and our staff strive to provide excellent customer service for our passengers. We are therefore grateful that this incident has been brought to our attention."
What will happen to the lady who told Jonathan to stop recording? will the staff of the Tube be new trained to allow recording such incidents in the future, if the Tube "are grateful" that the incident had been recorded to be brought to their attention? I kind of doubt it..
At JMac's blog there are already several dozen comments and the story is spreading on Twitter etc - any of our readers, please do blog about it, or tweet about it and spread the story. As it happens, the unfriendly guy, Ian the Idiot, has been having moments of megalomania before, so he clearly is in some severe need of re-training to learn how to be a customer service person. But as I am still fuming by this injustice, I am thinking of the other Tube person, the lady who asked JMac to stop video recording. Why did she do that? Does she even have the right to do that? And what should we - as society - do about it.
Clearly then Tube Lady did not think, that a video recording of the incident would be useful. Useful for whom? to Improve the quality of customer service at the Tube? or actually, she knew that what was happening was not totally ok, and she and her colleague Idiot Ian, would prefer this evidence not be collected of his behavior. She KNEW it was not going to look good on any performacne review.
Isn't this EXACTLY the RIGHT time for all to start to video record? If someone in position of power, asks you to stop recording an incident. I do not mean nuclear secrets and areas where clearly it is posted that video recording is not allowed, like say the customs area of airports. We can see the signs. But there are no signs in the Tube saying you cannot video record. There are prohibitions that flash photography is not allowed, as the flash can blind a train operator just as they come out of the dark tunnel. But the tube is a public space, and people video record in them all the time. The London Tune is the worlds longest underground system, the oldest underground, and a very famous London landmark. It is popularly photographed and videotaped by tourists all the time.
So now this Tube lady asked JMac to stop recording. JMac obviously a law-abiding citizen, followed that request. But what i suggest we as society should do - is in any such situation, we all should immediately take out our cameraphones and start to snap pictures of the scene - pictures of both Ian the Idiot and his colleague the lady - and yes, all others to start to video record. Imgine the Rodney King beatings in California over a decadea ago. The LA Police would have dearly wanted that the person stop video recording - but the police were abusing their power. We NEED to record such instances of abuse.
Furthermore - what would it say of the intent of customer service of say the London Tube or the famous double-decker busses or some department store, etc - if their stated policy is to explicitly ALLOW and ENCOURAGE the video taping of any incident in their public spaces? Wouldnt that send out a message loud and clear, that the citizens are explicitly empowered to record indicidents, and that no officials have a right to stop it.. and that the Tube lady would not have any authority to ask someone to stop recording?
I think this calls for some citizen revolt, don't you?
FOLLOW-UP, three hours later, the Mayor of London has weighed in, asking Transport for London to do an urgent review of this incident; and the first newspaper, Telegraph, has covered the story with interview of JMac. Communities Dominate! The fascinating part - The Tube "spokesperson" said "London Underground and our staff strive to provide excellent customer service for our passengers. We are therefore grateful that this incident has been brought to our attention."
What will happen to the lady who told Jonathan to stop recording? will the staff of the Tube be new trained to allow recording such incidents in the future, if the Tube "are grateful" that the incident had been recorded to be brought to their attention? I kind of doubt it..
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