Like it or not, you’re being tracked by your Opal Card in New South Wales. Every time you tap on and off, that generates metadata on you that can be accessed by authorities sans warrant. In a bid to friendly-up the system, the New South Wales government produced the weirdest ad ever to distract folks. Luckily, our friends at The Feed aren’t falling for it.
That’s right: the authorities don’t need a warrant to access your Opal travel data, and the cops love to access it too. As The Feed points out with its giant Opal Man, Queensland police accessed travel records from their equivalent travel card over 10,066 times. Hooooooo boy.
Below is the original ad for your headdesking amusement.