This is fascinating.....

"Nigel Farage has revealed that he refuses to buy an Oyster card in case it is used to spy on him. The Ukip leader said he always chooses a cardboard ticket to prevent the authorities “knowing where I am going”.

I understand where he's coming from.

I have several Oyster cards. I bought them (anonymously) over the counter years ago and re charge them the same way. They have no idea who uses them.

they will know , if you use card to pay for top ups
and if they could be bothered cash can be traced
and with CCTV , you are tracked
nice eh

How will they know. I give the card to the shopkeeper with a banknote and he does his magic. They still don't know who has the card.

I suppose if they chucked shed-loads of money investigating they would check CCTV ect to track me down but why would they? Unless the same card entered a criminally detected pattern.

If he doesn't register it (PAYG) then as you say they are anonymous

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

I think Nigel Farrage is playing to his audience.

Nigel Farage has a mobile phone, which is probably registered. He also uses Twitter. I would be very surprised if Nigel doesn't also have credit and debit cards. So whether he uses a traceable Oyster card or not becomes irrelevant. The police and other organisations are increasingly using HD cameras supported by facial recognition software http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4435998.stm
ANPR cameras and software are monitoring all arterial road traffic. Now we learn that GCHQ are monitoring just about everyone's emails and telephone calls via the NSA, and so privacy has become a thing of the past in this Orwellian Britain. Oyster cards have become the least of our worries.

The Hegelian Dialect.
Stage 1: create a problem – terrorism. Stage 2: Fear results - the people demand protection. Stage 3: The elite devise a pre-arranged solution – total surveillance of the people. Job done – the State is in total control.

The system for controlling us is very nearly complete, with the loose ends being tidied up in order to maximise surveillance. The next major step into monitoring and controlling us will be the so-called smart meters; these will eventually be compulsorily installed in our homes to monitor our use of water, gas, and electricity on a 24/7 basis.

All electrical goods are to have, or already are having, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses built into them, so that every aspect of domestic life can be centrally monitored. Does anybody know what surveillance has already been built into their car? Would you know whether your car is being used to monitor you? Cars are currently being supplied with the ability 'dial the emergency services' in the event of an accident. That tells us that the car is potentially locked into the GPS system, so somebody somewhere possibly has the ability to track the car.

Oyster cards have become the least of our worries.