Brimar
your point taken,, I dislike the AIS system for the sole reason that it is too often misused,,and not only from common users like here on the site, and here are plenty who use it res[onsibly (Remember the guy who ranted about a tanker for weeks here in a forum !!!)
But,,if you are interested in AIS and reports as such,,watch N24 (german channel TV,,) had a very interesting report on the Concordia,, beside interviews of Cooks/kitchenhelpers/and passengers (which demanded personal attention by the capt during the disaster)not ONE officer/engineer or even the Capt by itself were interviewed. Of course things got terribly wrong there,,no doubts about that,,, but also right,,if the capt would not, as it seems , after the grounding would have kept the ship on the rocks, we might have seens a few hundred or more dead peoples. Remember, only a few cables off the coast is very deep water. A capesizing there would have resulted in a tremendous amount of death!!!!
AIS is partial a good systems,,when used by peoples in the profession where it was designed for. It was not designed and implemented for anyone who could access it via personal computer.
Just imagine, you get a AIS by law into your car and right away the whole world can look where you go, and that all under the umbrella of safety and security. Not with one word was the CONTROLING effect mentioned which it atually is.