Council bins are being fitted with tracking technology revealing dirty secrets

[Krazychic 3,311]

 

Your rubbish could be spying on you. As well as guarding your grime it might be disclosing your dirty habits. Your wheelie could be revealing all.

 

Spoiler

Residents in Sydney’s inner west were surprised this month when the local council began replacing municipal bins, many of which in perfect working order.

 

They were even more surprised when it was revealed there was a hidden addition to their shiny new bin. And it was telling council about all their filthy habits.

 

Sydney’s Inner West council has begun rolling out 35,000 new wheelie bins. Just under the rim in the new bins, away from prying eyes, is a small circular device — a Radio Frequency Identification Device, or RFID, tag.

 

It’s part of the increasing march of the so-called ‘internet of things’ which sees everyday objects — from fridges to kettles collect data on how they are used. Connected fridges can tell when products are expiring, connected bins could tell when you haven’t done enough recycling.

 

Privacy expert David Vaile has told news.com.au the unwillingness of organisations to reveal exactly why they need all this extra information meant residents it was “quite reasonable for people to be concerned ... in the absence of transparency”.

 

The Inner West council is not alone. If anything, they’re pretty late to the game. Sydney’s Randwick and Ryde councils are among many across Australia that already tag their bins and British cities have had what is sometimes know as is “bin bugs” for a decade or more.

 

In a statement, Inner West council told news.com.au tagging technology was a “standard feature in mobile garbage bins.” Their bin bugs were used for “identification” purposes and could detect households which “contaminate” their recycle bins.

 

“It is an asset management tool allowing councils to monitor their bin infrastructure. Should a resident advise that their bin has been missed, Council has real time information to identify whether all bins on that street are yet to be emptied, if the bin has already been collected, or the reason why the bin may not have been collected.”

 

The various tags work in different ways but one version is activated when the bin is hoisted off the ground to be emptied. As the contents are tipped out, the chip passes an antenna revealing its unique ID number.

 

The lifting mechanism then weighs each bin. If a bin is deemed too full, or indeed if a recycling bin seems too empty, the waste contractor instantly knows what household the bin belongs too.

 

A quick scan will also see if a waste receptacle has grown a mind of its own and wheeled itself away to a neighbouring street.

 

But it’s the secrecy involved which has concerned some.

 

Some British councils have got in hot water for squirrelling the tags under the rims without informing residents. While a poll taken in 2009 by Britain’s Big Brother Watch, admittedly an organisation whose name suggests they are not predisposed to monitoring technology, found that more than 82 per cent of people opposed putting microchips in bins to encourage recycling.

 

Mr Vaile is the executive director of the University of New South Wales’ Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre. He sympathised with local residents’ concerns.

 

“I wouldn’t call it paranoia, even if everything was fully clear and disclosed people would still worry, but they over react in the absence of transparency.

 

“It’s quite reasonable for people to be concerned about the governance of that information and what it is going to be used for.”

 

He said while, initially, there might be a tight remit around what the information was used for, over time “data creep” might see it used for other purposes. It wouldn’t be too difficult for someone monitoring the data to know if a particular household had gone on holidays because of the low weight of their rubbish, he said.

 

“Will this info be shared? Where will it be stored? It’s a massive pool of apparently low value information but it can be potentially bundled up with other information and there can be unexpected and unintended consequences.”

 

In some countries, households are charged depending on the weight of their rubbish. Inner West said they had “no plans to move to a pay by weight system”.

 

On the Inner West council website, a page about the new bins explains that the introduction of the RFID technology is used to identify bins and “educate people about the correct way to dispose of their waste.”

 

However, no mention of the tags was made on social media posts regarding the bins’ rollout, a flyer sent to residents or a letter physically attached to the bin — despite the tag being just centimetres away.

 

Mr Vaile said companies and government organisations tended to downplay the use of data collection technology while privacy statements, setting out how the data would be used, were often only up to a bare minimum standard or completely lacking.

 

Source

[IkaBula 70]

I know, I know. Who cares?
I get that this isn't the most nefarious example of technology getting so out of hand that it knows more about us than we can routinely remember about ourselves. But I just can't help but think the way things are going it's a slippery slope.

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

First the smart TVs, then the microwave, now the dumpsters? How do you even unplug a dumpster?

 

But in actual seriousness, it's kind of scary that a lot of things can be bugged. It kind of reminds me of 1984.

[Weps 1,378]

The eventually here is that society will become complacent with this, then I don't want to imagine the direction this kind of mission creep could take form into. 

[Takka 13,376]

It does seem like a lot of trouble to address such small/rare problems, implying there's more they're looking to get out of it.

[Iggy 688]

I'd be worried about hidden cameras on them next.

 

[tarikja 918]

Sounds like a good step towards an automated waste collection system if it were to be linked with self-driving vehicles in the near future.

 

Regarding "security concerns": I don't really think a tracker on a bin (which only detects location of the bin and load/weight) is a noteworthy security concern. Compared to your common smartphone (which detects where you are, what you are viewing and buying on the internet and with whom you are in contact with) this matter seems almost laughable.

 

The authorities should have informed the residents beforehand, though. They even could have had it advertised somehow and give it a positive spin in the end. Opportunity missed I guess.

[IkaBula 70]

3 hours ago, 002 said:

First the smart TVs, then the microwave, now the dumpsters? How do you even unplug a dumpster?

 

But in actual seriousness, it's kind of scary that a lot of things can be bugged. It kind of reminds me of 1984.

Agreed. I'm glad I'm not the only one rattled by it.

2 hours ago, Wojtek said:

The eventually here is that society will become complacent with this, then I don't want to imagine the direction this kind of mission creep could take form into. 

We already are complacent with it. Just look at all the people feeding their changing details constantly into Facebook so 'people know what they're up to' and giving Facebook permission to even see the contacts on their phones, and read their messages. They are the majority. The 'I have nothing to hide' types who don't even realise that 'hiding' isn't what it's about. It's about the fact that they have allowed themselves to become a product and more or less spied on.

 

1 hour ago, Tucker933 said:

It does seem like a lot of trouble to address such small/rare problems, implying there's more they're looking to get out of it.

There probably is - thus the article mentioning concerns that they're not being transparent.
Though, it's just our trash...I mean, who cares right?
...I'm not so sure I can just 'not care' and not overthink this.

1 hour ago, tarikja said:

Sounds like a good step towards an automated waste collection system if it were to be linked with self-driving vehicles in the near future.

 

Regarding "security concerns": I don't really think a tracker on a bin (which only detects location of the bin and load/weight) is a noteworthy security concern. Compared to your common smartphone (which detects where you are, what you are viewing and buying on the internet and with whom you are in contact with) this matter seems almost laughable.

 

The authorities should have informed the residents beforehand, though. They even could have had it advertised somehow and give it a positive spin in the end. Opportunity missed I guess.

This is why I don't use social media, or shop online and my next phone will be a 'dumb phone' (providing I can find one), not that I even use the 'features' a smart phone offers much anyway.
I just don't like the direction we are starting to head in. Bring back 2007.

[Weps 1,378]

You'd be surprised what kind of information can be gleaned from something as simple an a GPS tracker on a trash can. 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Wojtek

[IkaBula 70]

24 minutes ago, Wojtek said:

You'd be surprised what kind of information can be gleaned from something as simple an a GPS tracker on a trash can. 

While i agree with you. I'd rather not know.

Then again, I'd rather this not be happening at all.

 

But, alas, if my council get on board there's no 'opting-out' unless you stop using your curb-side bin.