Rainboe,
Absolutely! ATC tapes are a record of communication between ATC and outside agencies. Cockpit Voice Recorders similarly. CVR transcripts, indeed even CVR recordings end up in the public domain. What makes ATC recordings so special you have to resort to this absurd Inspector Clouseau secrecy? If the Hudson River recordings are freely released under 'Freedom of Information', then I suggest we give up this daft attempt at cloaking everything official in the UK- it just won't wash in the internet age.
But you miss my point. You seemed against CVRs being made public and indeed confirmed it in your first word of this reply. I don't see the difference between CVR recordings and ATC recordings in a crash. Whilst CVRs may capture the last desperate seconds of a fatal crash, this ATC tape records the emotional (albeit professional) response of people to witnessing a large commercial aircraft - which they are in a sense responsible for - crashing in front of them. By all means suggest that CVR recordings be private, but the same must apply to ATC recordings.
One big problem with realsing ATC and CVR tapes (after the ethical ones) is the issue of context. I'm sure you'd be the first person to attack the press for an ill-informed, ignorant and out-of-context analysis of the recordings. In fact you could imagine some tabloids spinning this recording to show a captain who not only got the callsign wrong, but was so incompetent that he transmitted the evacuation order over VHF.
You picked my quote about putting cameras on flight decks. I have seen the effect of cameras filming there- use...er...lesss! Total waste of time and money. You see very, very little. Yet they are a big invasion of privacy (as well as a handy place to hang my jacket). So why not put cameras on ATC controllers as well then if pilots are supposed to have them? Shots of controllers talking to Speedbird 287 whilst scratching their arses and blowing their noses and looking at it will go down well with the public!
You miss my point, plus there's no need for such an agressive tone. I never said that flight deck cameras are required as a result of this crash, I was using your quote to suggest that you think recording the flight deck is an invasion of privacy, which you've confirmed. I was highlighting your hypocrisy between ATC recordings and flight deck recordings.
If flight deck cameras being used for internal crash investigation purposes are an invasion of privacy, then surely ATC tapes released to the public is a worse invasion of privacy? I don't follow your logic - ATC have as much right to privacy as flight crew.