248
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] otter@lemmy.ca 44 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As noted by Reason, stop-arm cameras have been criticized for not delivering promised safety benefits, but they’ve nonetheless generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the companies that deploy them. And according to the report, BusPatrol now wants to turn those cameras into license plate readers. Instead of activating when a specific law is allegedly being violated, they’ll now reportedly be live at all times, capturing data on any vehicle within sight of a school bus that can then be sold to the law-enforcement agencies BusPatrol already counts as customers.

You can bypass this surveillance by not existing near school busses /s

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 9 points 18 hours ago

FYI I'm a school bus driver and our buses are equipped with these BusPatrol cameras. Our director of transportation told me about the financial arrangement, which I'm not sure most people know about. BusPatrol pays all costs relating to the cameras and their installation. They then get all of the ticket revenue generated ($300 per incident) until the cameras are paid for, after which the company splits the revenue with the school district (my boss told me this is a 50/50 split but Google says it's about 60/40 in favor of the company). The money that goes to the school district is further split (50/50) between the school system and the police department, who have the responsibility for reviewing the recordings and mailing out the tickets. The "until the cameras are paid for" part is interesting: according to my boss, the installation cost of the cameras for our 40 buses was in the neighborhood of $1.5 million dollars, which seems a bit improbable. $37,500 per camera?

The revenue these things generate has to be fucking enormous. I've had runs where I get passed by 10 to 15 cars with my lights on and stop sign out. The main benefit to me personally is lowered stress. I used to get genuinely angry at cars doing this, and I would waste time and attention span horn-blasting them (one time I even had a cop pass me like this, driving with one hand and looking at his cell phone in the other hand). Now I don't give a shit, knowing that they're (likely) getting a big ticket for it.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago

It’s kind of insane that the fine for breaking the law goes to a company and not the government.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 1 points 46 minutes ago

No argument here.

[-] crank0271@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

It depends on the directionality. Download a crusty old Miley Cyrus MP3 with a virus? Money goes to the RIAA. Huge mega-corp rakes their customers over the coals for years? The government collects the fine and keeps it.

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 4 points 14 hours ago

Why not just have the school district/police department set up and host the cameras themselves and keep all the revenue?

[-] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago

How are you supposed to do.that? They go to residential areas because their mission is to provide school transportation

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

Sorry, that was meant to be a joke reply to the original comment. I'll add a "/s" to it

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 19 hours ago

Wasn't necessary imo

[-] homik@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

Never being in USA has worked so far.

this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
248 points (98.8% liked)

Privacy

5825 readers
248 users here now

Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.

Rules

PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!

  1. Be civil and no prejudice
  2. Don't promote big-tech software
  3. No apathy and defeatism for privacy (i.e. "They already have my data, why bother?")
  4. No reposting of news that was already posted
  5. No crypto, blockchain, NFTs
  6. No Xitter links (if absolutely necessary, use xcancel)

Related communities:

Some of these are only vaguely related, but great communities.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS