Don't you just love the ingenuity of the ordinary people? The myth is always peddled that those in power that run our affairs are smart hard working, self-sacrificing individuals. When in fact most are self gratifying prancing political ballerinas, with a high percentage being liars and stupid.
Time and time again these greedy, celebrity photo-op seeking buffoons are outwitted by members of the general public.
In Greece the bus system was that you buy your ticket from a kiosk, and when you enter the bus there is a small machine into which you put your ticket to have it date and time stamped. Inspectors periodically enter the bus to check if your ticket is stamped, if not you're in for a fine. In one occasion groups of anarchists entered the buses with screw drivers, removed the machines and left the bus with the machine. Travelers could not stamp their tickets, so could use the same ticket time and time again.
This latest little act of ingenuity from Canada, was simple and effective, sophisticated high tec machines are always vulnerable to ingenuity.
In Greece the bus system was that you buy your ticket from a kiosk, and when you enter the bus there is a small machine into which you put your ticket to have it date and time stamped. Inspectors periodically enter the bus to check if your ticket is stamped, if not you're in for a fine. In one occasion groups of anarchists entered the buses with screw drivers, removed the machines and left the bus with the machine. Travelers could not stamp their tickets, so could use the same ticket time and time again.
This latest little act of ingenuity from Canada, was simple and effective, sophisticated high tec machines are always vulnerable to ingenuity.
This from Act For Freedom Now:
Over the past several days, motivated by an international call for transit fare strikes, the fare distribution machines in several metro stations were disabled by blocking the debit/credit card readers and coin slots.
The STM is continually hiking fares and deploying squads of wannabe-cop “inspectors” to harass, fine, and assault people over $3.50. Currently, the STM is even seeking to give its inspectors expanded powers to detain and arrest people and access police databases. Every effort to maintain and expand policing of people’s movements deserves to be met with resistance. Fortunately, there is no shortage of inspiration from around the world, above all the ongoing revolt in Chile.
These actions were experiments with some simple, effective, and fairly discreet means of sabotageing fare collection and enforcement. At this point in time, the method that gives us the most confidence is to apply super glue to both sides of a random unactivated gift card and insert it fully in the debit/credit card slot, and put more super glue in the coin slot after causing it to open by operating the machine as though you want to pay for a ticket with cash. We hope this technique can be reproduced widely alongside other tactics for taking these machines out of service.
Live free, ride free.
