Radio hacked on Chicago transit

"Jeopardizing rail safety" is NOT a happy thought. (Image via Wikipedia)

How fitting, that upon waking up to my first day as a True/Slant contributor on the Chicago beat, breaking news from the Second City is focused on one of the most visible — and political — links that nearly all Chicagoans share. The CTA, the sprawling transit network that cuts along class lines and cultural boundaries to connect the pastiche of neighborhoods that is Chicago, has been hacked:

The FBI has arrested a 20-year-old man who repeatedly broke into CTA radio channels and tried to pass himself off as a rail official, authorities said today.

Marcel Carter, of Chicago, is charged with knowingly interfering with a dispatcher or driver of a mass transportation vehicle.

According to a criminal complaint, his transmissions began in June 2008, and in June and July of this year he allegedly made 300 unauthorized transmissions.

Carter allegedly gave false directions to trains, sometimes imitating workers at the CTA control center.

via CTA radio hacker to face charges – Chicago Breaking News.

Speaking from my perspective as a regular rider, today’s news is hard to digest, especially as it comes on the heels of an announcement four days ago that the CTA just clinched $4.9 million in federal stimulus funds to actually beef up its security. The stimulus boost is set to help the Chicago Police Department’s CTA mass-transit unit “increase transit security and guard against terrorist attacks” by deploying bomb-sniffing dogs, buying equipment to screen stations for explosives, and augmenting its teams of officers assigned to prevent terrorism.

But the fact remains — we got tripped up by a hometown dude with a radio.

And he sent transmissions for more than a year before being apprehended.

To the CTA’s credit, the article reports that they cut off his communications to operators and field personal once they realized he didn’t belong on the airwaves, and that they limited his contact to their operations command center. Still, when I read that a law enforcement official admits there existed a “potential for harm, possibly including jeopardizing rail safety” on the lifeline of Chicago transit, you bet I’ll hesitate before the next time I dunk my fare card at a turnstile.

Can’t wait for the morning commute …