States want fuel tax replaced - Fee-based sytem monitors car and computes charges

Houston Chronicle ^ | October 4, 2004 | LUCAS WALL

[DB]

Great...

Big brother monitoring everywhere you go in your car...

Lawyers and government will love that...

Land of the free...

At least once upon a time...

[endthematrix]

Yep. The chip is coming. And where do the records go? Who can have access to them?

[Major_Risktaker]

NO, NO, NO Taxes! I will jam the signals, break the odometer, build my own car. These tax are highway robbery.

[endthematrix]

Actually I thing in several places they have this in place. There is a GLOBAL association that advocates this GPS monitored approach to transportation. I'm the pessimist on FR and the vision I see isn't so warm and fuzzy....

[DB]

Just imagine, government knowing everywhere you've gone, at what time, how fast, if you stopped at the stop sign or rolled through it, what businesses you went to, what friends you visited, if you simply went for a drive without stopping anywhere else, or even if you were near the scene of a crime, you name it...

I think I have a MAJOR problem with this.

[endthematrix]

" will jam the signals"

Sorry that's violation of federal law.

"break the odometer"

Damaging state property.

"build my own car"

Huge EPA/Kyoto no-no.

"These tax are highway robbery."

Welcome to the future!

[Flyer]

I drive 80 - 100,000 miles a year.

I guess I could justify saying GET OFF MY ROAD!,

[antiunion person]

People who drive cars have no clue to what truck drivers and trucking companies have been putting up with for years already. QUAL-COMM is a GPS like system installed in every truck by companies who have a certain number of trucks in their fleet. This system monitors everything from the speed of the truck to what the rpms of the truck's engine is, to where to the truck is at all times, to when the truck stopped last and where, etc........ For years truckers have been under the watchful eye of Big Brother. Did you know in some areas, truckers can get speeding tickets without ever seeing a police officer?? All the officer has to do is either hook up to the truck's system with his own system or go to the company and check their system. Fines sent by the mail, what a concept. The photo taking devices set up at stoplights for people who run lights is another Big Brother system. Finally, the people who drive cars are getting a taste of the crap a truck driver has been eating all these years. Get used of it everyone, it will only get worse.

[Sam Cree]

I strongly wonder how support for the tracking of the movement of individuals breaks down along party lines. It has such an Orwellian flavor that I don't see how it can even be supported politically, no matter if you are Democrat or Republican.

The article makes it seem as if this idea is being promoted solely by bureaucrats at the moment. The shadow government, so to speak.

[dennisw]

Sick and Big Brotherish

[dennisw]

More employment for brain dead bureaucrats and affirmative action hires. Wheeeeeeeee!

[endthematrix]

Intelligent Transportation Systems (USDOT)http://www.its.dot.gov/links.htm

[Ruth A.]

Why doesn't the government go and make sure that all the cargo ships are safe before entering US waters--that should keep them busy enough not to bother me for awhile.

[Smokin' Joe]

I sure don't like this. None of my vehicles has a GPS module in it (all pre-1982). I really don't feel like needing a 'second mortgage' to buy a new one, especially when I don't trust computerized engines.

[Reeses]

or even if you were near the scene of a crime

The government already has access to this information via cell phones. When someone changes cells, a computer logs it. The OnStar type systems built into cars are even worse. The government can get a court order to listen in as you drive.

[DB]

Yes, OnStar is bad for a host of reasons.

Cell phones at least are not nearly as accurate as GPS at locating you. General vicinity is about the best they currently do.

[goldstategop]

Big Brother in your car - now the government nickels and dimes you for driving to the grocery store and the local mall. Sheesh, its a blatant attempt to force the peasants back into mass transit and riding bicycles. Which liberals love.

[orangelobster]

What a dumb idea. Why should people driving a fuel efficient car pay the same tax as a gas guzzler.

An uneccessarily convuluted scheme that only a dem. could love.

[Reeses]

Cell phone manufacturers soon have to put locating features into phones under the guise of 911 service, via triangulation and other methods. GPS doesn't work in buildings or in big cities so it has limitations. It's possible to measure the phase angles of a cell phone signal to determine its location within a fraction of an inch. Governments, both foreign and domestic, couldn't have asked for a better personal tracking device.