NYC Taxi Assoc. Sues Over GPS, Exhibit 1: Proprietary Driving Routes

In case you missed it, there was a taxi strike about two weeks ago over the required use of GPS enabled devices in NYC taxis. Well the same folks that led the strike, The NYC Taxi Workers Alliance, is now bringing a lawsuit over the issue and they're arguing among other things that the driving patterns their drivers use is proprietary and that use of a GPS tracking system will "give away" these patterns.

Hmm, well this is rational, if I knew a really good short cut around town, I wouldn't want to share that short cut with the world because then it wouldn't really be a short cut much longer.... but my guess is that the bigger risk is that it will uncover a systematic pattern of slightly more "scenic" routes and routes that keep the taxi and its meter rolling irregardless of the time it takes to get to the destination.