By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
A growing number of taxis are installing ``black boxes,'' or sophisticated surveillance cameras, on top of rearview mirrors to record conversations with passengers. The gadgets also record the speed and driving records of the vehicles, providing decisive data for the settlements of disputes over car accidents.
Experts say the device, which records sight and sound, will help prevent crime and keep cabbies from driving wildly or violating traffic rules.
It also records driving data such as speed, use of the accelerator and brake pedals and Global Positioning System (GPS) information to the hundredth of a second.
However, it is raising concerns over the violation of the privacy of customers.
The device made its debut in metropolitan Seoul last year. Incheon was one of the first cities to install black boxes in 5,400 corporation-owned taxis. Seoul and Gyeonggi Province plan to expand installing them in 22,000 and 34,000 cabs, respectively, by the end of the year.
According to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, cabs run by taxi companies have caused 773 traffic accidents on average yearly from 2005 to 2007. However, after the taxis installed black boxes, the number decreased to 635 accidents in 2008, marking a 17 percent decrease.
Park Ji-hye, 20, a law student, supports the idea of the black boxes, saying cabdrivers should protect themselves from any possible accident disputes or crime.
However, the disputes over privacy violations have been triggered because the box records customers' phone calls and other private moments in the taxi, even making video recordings without consent.
``I didn't know about the black boxes,'' said Kwon Da-ye, a passenger. ``I wouldn't ride in a taxi with the device.''
Some taxi drivers also feel they're being watched by their company.
Chang Yeo-kyung, an activist for the progressive civic organization Jinbo Net, sees it as privacy invasion. ``Recording drivers and passengers is against the Protection of Communications Secrets Law,'' Chang said. ``Local governments should draw up measures to protect citizens' privacy but they're providing financial support to taxi companies for the installments of the devices.''
There are no specific regulations governing the setting up of black boxes in taxies.
``Without any laws or guidelines regarding the installment, their increased presence will stir legal disputes over privacy,'' said Kim Min-ho, a professor at the College of Law at Sungkyunkwan University.