The Press, 18 Oct 2011: 'Anonymous travel is no longer possible'

"The Privacy First foundation is threatening to take the government to court because, in their view, the anonymous OV-chipkaart is not at all as anonymous as claimed. An anonymous card does not exist, the foundation said on Tuesday.

Once the public transport card is recharged by debit card, the bank account number is linked to the chip card, the foundation claims. "This allows the government to track people all day long who think they are travelling anonymously," reports the group, which advocates for people's privacy.

Recharging the chip card with cash only makes no sense, according to Privacy First. "If you have already found such a cash machine, you will not remain anonymous anyway, because you will be filmed by surveillance cameras every time you check in or out at an OV gate. Thus, you can still be linked to your OV-chip card."

The foundation is currently orientating what the next steps are. The company behind the public transport chip card, Trans Link Systems, is not to blame, according to a spokesman. "The government is responsible for the rules and they should therefore be addressed," he says."

Read HERE The entire article in The Press.