Missouri approves tracking cell phones for real-time traffic data

Kansas City Star via AP via kansascity.com ^ | 12/2/05 | GARANCE BURKE

[308MBR]

Yeah, On Star. Hey, you already have this stuff in the OBD2 systems on your new cars that record the highest speed and driving habits. I'd hate to read the chip in my old truck.

OBD3 is coming, and Johnny Law will be able to read your emissions system performance, tell if you haven't been servicing you car, how fast you were going and when, etc.

"information age" LOL

[clee1]

You're not breaking anything to me.

However, nobody ever had a plan on the back burner to issue me traffic citations for logging onto my email server.

[clee1]

Which is why we've pulled the fuse on the OnStar box.

[freedumb2003]

Didnt u know...Knowingly trying to defraud a State agency is punishiable by law!

Sorry guys -- next up, built-in GPS in every car. For that matter, OnStar is on a LOT of vehicles and can be traced down.

They are already starting to use the info stored on your car's "black box" such as speed, direction, even road conditions, to help in determining "fault" for traffic accidents.

It creeps me out.

[PAR35]

More reason to avoid ever owning a cell phone, or a vehicle with "On-Star"!

As to the cell phone, I can always turn it off and take out the battery. I don't talk and drive anyway. But there is no way I'd buy a car with a built in tracker. I don't have one that stores the info in an onboard computer for later download, either.

[Elsie]

It USED to be a chicken.

Now it's, "A spy in every pot!"

[varyouga]

"If this comes to Maryland, I'll tell my company to page me, because I'm turning my cell phone off, and removing the battery."

It doesn't matter. Lots of these phones have backup capacitors that will keep the GPS active for a while.

On the other hand, I know someone whose life was saved by her GPS phone so the uses of this technology can be a mixed bag.

[elkfersupper]

I don't have one that stores the info in an onboard computer for later download, either.

1984 Landcruiser bump.

Yeah, baby!

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>It creeps me out.<<<

Wait till they RFID-chip the horse you bought to avoid all that surveillance built into your car... :)

[Gondring]

"That said, we recognize the importance of the privacy issue, and we wouldn't do business with any company that would take any steps in the future to infringe on those rights."

So....what's the sunset provision on this baby?

[Gondring]

I was unaware that carriers were providing that information to the government and third parties without my consent. Thank you for letting us know that is already going on....or is it not, and you're missing some of the story?

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[barker]

.....we'll eventually be able to give you alerts .....

Just how are they going to do this. Send messages to all the cell phones users? Great idea, more wrecks because of everyone on cell phones, more congestion to report, more alerts to issue.....

[scott7278]

I can't stand this idea.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>I was unaware that carriers were providing that information to the government and third parties without my consent. <<<

They're not. And the technology in the original article in the post won't either.

Sheesh. Some people will buy into any paranoid drivel that gets posted around here.

[Nebr FAL owner]

As long as the battery is in the cell phone as you go from one cell to the next the cellphone tells the cell that you are in the cell not exactly where within the cell but still that you are in a specific cell.

[Richard-SIA]

List of cars I own.

69 Land-Rover 88"
73 Land-Rover 88"
70 Jeepster Commando
70 Triumph GT-6
71 Triumph Spitfire
65 Willy's P.U. (Chevy 1 ton axles, 454)
84 30' Mororhome (440 Dodge)
70 Rokon RT-340 motorcycle

You may see a pattern here, NONE of them have significant "emission control" packages, an ECU, or a computer chip.

Unless I can find out how to disable the OBD's and any other Big Brother trash I will never own anything newer than these.

[GeronL]

Gee, just put some camera's out there on the overpasses, no need to track people

[Gondring]

article>>The program charts drivers' relative speed by measuring the time between the intermittent signals cell phones send to towers along a stretch of road. Then, that information - stripped of the personal identification and serial numbers that identify the cell phone's owner - is overlaid with highway maps to determine where the phones are and how fast they are moving.

Keith in Iowa>They're not. And the technology in the original article in the post won't either

Please explain...are you saying that the cell phone company is going to do the calculations and not pass on any raw info?

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Please explain...are you saying that the cell phone company is going to do the calculations and not pass on any raw info?<<<

No.

The only "raw info" passed from your cell phone aside from actual conversations is an electronic serial number - which by itself is worthless to identify you. The traffic sensing systems will 'eavesdrop' on the control channel information being transmitted by cell phones - and count unique individuals over a certain period of time to determine traffic flow. Thats it. They won't have the capability of interfacing with the cell company's database and connect the electronic serial numbers to people. As I said earlier in this discussion - the process of you receiving and sending e-mail on your computer yields more minable data that could be used against you than your cell phone's electronic serial number.