RE: Government firms up road charging plans
Discussion
Boosted LS1 said:
I wonder if they'll be able to supply me with a 6 volt positive earth satnav system for my Matchless G80
With one of those you probably don't get much past walking speed so won't be covering many miles in a day. The technology won't be able to see you moving at all.
It'll get from one side of a busy city to the other faster than your car Boosted
I love it as a local runabout. It'll do 75mph at 75mpg, and it has legally loud exhaust (original equipment officer) so people hear it coming and don't step out in front of me as I filter through the traffic. When the oil runs out it'll run on a mix of paraffin and p1ss too
los angeles said:Too right LA, but if you head back north of the border for any length of time you'll be OK - Tiny BLiar is keen to protect his majority ... the road pricing and charging proposals apply to England and Wales but not Scotland.
UK road charges should be discounted depending on road works and their number(plus other valid reasons for a rebate)
A franchise on a fuel station just south of the border would be a profitable proposition then. Wonder what the situation will be in Northern Ireland...They're trying to track us here in the US and in the UK too. World government is organizing and they want to know where we all are. As a Libertarian (the party our govt tells our media is to keep hidden) I find such intrusion totally unacceptable not to mention it is against our Constitutional right to travel unimpeded.
R~
You do not examine legislation in light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. —LYNDON B. JOHNSON
The US version of People control.
Car trackers drive some to distraction
Web Posted: 04/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT
L.A. Lorek
Express-News Business Writer
With the help of a dime-size adhesive tag on a vehicle's windshield and cutting-edge technology that detractors equate with Big Brother, police soon could track Texas cars and trucks — if a legislator's bill makes it into law.
Ya'll might find this interesting. Feel free to forward to others who might be concerned.
You can track the status of this bill at:
www.house.state.tx.us/bills/welcome.php
Attached is a copy of the bill that's in the transportation commitee.
You might even want to contact your local rep and voice your opinion:
www.house.state.tx.us/members/welcome.htm
More Texas Legislature coverage
Car trackers drive some to distraction
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Conference panel likely next for budget
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79th Legislature: News, video, information
Though the bill hasn't made it out of the Texas House of Representatives' Transportation Committee, it already has generated outrage among technophiles and privacy advocates who believe the technology, once introduced, will creep into other law enforcement areas.
"Why don't they just tag us like cattle and be done with it?" said Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Texas police accountability project in Austin.
House Bill 2893 calls for the state to use radio frequency identification devices, or RFID, for auto-insurance enforcement.
The bill excludes other law enforcement use, but privacy experts say it does little to protect personal rights.
"It's overkill, in my opinion," said Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based nonprofit advocacy group.
The tags, which can be attached to just about anything, contain antennae that transmit data to be read by a receiver up to 25 feet away.
It's unclear whether the bill, which has not had a committee hearing, can pass.
Bill sponsor Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, thinks it's a good idea to look at the technology and decide whether it can help law enforcement do a better job and also protect privacy.
"The whole concept of it is being able to let us verify whether people have insurance," said Phillips. "It's a little different approach."
The proposed RFID system works similar to the toll tags on cars today, and doesn't contain personal information, Phillips said.
Under Phillips' bill, the RFID tags would be placed on registration stickers affixed to the windshield. The tags would verify whether the vehicle is covered by automobile liability insurance.
A device such as a handheld scanner or a transmitter at a toll booth could read the tags and check them against a computer database that could immediately verify if the vehicle's insurance is current. Insurance companies would be responsible for supplying updated information to the database, which would be maintained by state agencies.
But privacy advocates say the RFID technology is subject to abuse. The readers could be placed on every lamppost or mile marker on a highway, and police could use them to track automobiles.
That means that if a car speeds by the device, then that motorist may receive a ticket in the mail similar to cameras that track people who blow through red lights now, Henson said.
"It's like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer for really what are seemingly small crimes like not having your insurance or toll violations," Henson said. "He's creating a technology that could be abused in all sorts of ways with virtually no restrictions in the bill on law enforcement."
With RFID, the government could track all of us as dots on computer screens, Henson said. Once the technology is in place, he said, it would be hard to prevent it from being used for other applications.
The bill was scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday, but the Transportation Committee didn't discuss it.
The Spring School District near Houston uses RFID tags to keep tabs on its 28,000 students on school property.
R~ You do not examine legislation in light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. —LYNDON B. JOHNSON
The US version of People control.
Car trackers drive some to distraction
Web Posted: 04/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT
L.A. Lorek
Express-News Business Writer
With the help of a dime-size adhesive tag on a vehicle's windshield and cutting-edge technology that detractors equate with Big Brother, police soon could track Texas cars and trucks — if a legislator's bill makes it into law.
Ya'll might find this interesting. Feel free to forward to others who might be concerned.
You can track the status of this bill at:
www.house.state.tx.us/bills/welcome.php
Attached is a copy of the bill that's in the transportation commitee.
You might even want to contact your local rep and voice your opinion:
www.house.state.tx.us/members/welcome.htm
More Texas Legislature coverage
Car trackers drive some to distraction
Absentee reps doom health care proposal
Conference panel likely next for budget
Lawmakers target Internet dating sites
Lege Briefs: Senator sees no need to gamble
79th Legislature: News, video, information
Though the bill hasn't made it out of the Texas House of Representatives' Transportation Committee, it already has generated outrage among technophiles and privacy advocates who believe the technology, once introduced, will creep into other law enforcement areas.
"Why don't they just tag us like cattle and be done with it?" said Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Texas police accountability project in Austin.
House Bill 2893 calls for the state to use radio frequency identification devices, or RFID, for auto-insurance enforcement.
The bill excludes other law enforcement use, but privacy experts say it does little to protect personal rights.
"It's overkill, in my opinion," said Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based nonprofit advocacy group.
The tags, which can be attached to just about anything, contain antennae that transmit data to be read by a receiver up to 25 feet away.
It's unclear whether the bill, which has not had a committee hearing, can pass.
Bill sponsor Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, thinks it's a good idea to look at the technology and decide whether it can help law enforcement do a better job and also protect privacy.
"The whole concept of it is being able to let us verify whether people have insurance," said Phillips. "It's a little different approach."
The proposed RFID system works similar to the toll tags on cars today, and doesn't contain personal information, Phillips said.
Under Phillips' bill, the RFID tags would be placed on registration stickers affixed to the windshield. The tags would verify whether the vehicle is covered by automobile liability insurance.
A device such as a handheld scanner or a transmitter at a toll booth could read the tags and check them against a computer database that could immediately verify if the vehicle's insurance is current. Insurance companies would be responsible for supplying updated information to the database, which would be maintained by state agencies.
But privacy advocates say the RFID technology is subject to abuse. The readers could be placed on every lamppost or mile marker on a highway, and police could use them to track automobiles.
That means that if a car speeds by the device, then that motorist may receive a ticket in the mail similar to cameras that track people who blow through red lights now, Henson said.
"It's like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer for really what are seemingly small crimes like not having your insurance or toll violations," Henson said. "He's creating a technology that could be abused in all sorts of ways with virtually no restrictions in the bill on law enforcement."
With RFID, the government could track all of us as dots on computer screens, Henson said. Once the technology is in place, he said, it would be hard to prevent it from being used for other applications.
The bill was scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday, but the Transportation Committee didn't discuss it.
The Spring School District near Houston uses RFID tags to keep tabs on its 28,000 students on school property.
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