"I don’t think that I’m unfairly going on the record to recognize that the MBTA, like most public transportation systems, faces real cash issues," says U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock, in an audio recording from Saturday’s hearing in Boston, in which the judge granted a temporary restraining order stopping a planned DefCon talk on vulnerabilities in the Boston subway’s fare card system.
Kim Zetter obtained the audio from the 90-minute hearing, in which EFF argued unsuccessfully against the extraordinary gag order. Despite the EFF’s defense of the First Amendment, the judge was persuaded by lawyers for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to dole out a little prior restraint.
"Someone who opens a mechanism to defraud [MBTA] wrongfully of their revenues is acting in violation of the public interest, and it is in the public interest to enjoin such activity," the judge concluded.
Here’s the audio in Windows Media format, as an mp3 and an ogg
