E-tracking, coming to a DMV near you [DOT wants to track your car wherever it goes]

CNet News ^ | Dec 5, 2005 | Declan McCullagh

[John Jorsett]

If they ever get this off the ground, I predict a sudden interest in GPS spoofing equipment.

[Fierce Allegiance]

If they did not have other motives, a simple mileage tracker would suffice.

Many new cars also have data recorders similar to aricraft "black boxes". What do you wanna bet that will be potentially used against members of the citizenry?

[Dallas59]

Only if your first name is "Mohammad"?

[TexGuy]

Only if your first name is "Mohammad"?

Wishful thinking ... "Don't worry, We will never try and clone a human being."

"We will never use a Social Security number as an ID number."

[John Jorsett]

Many new cars also have data recorders similar to aricraft "black boxes". What do you wanna bet that will be potentially used against members of the citizenry?

I think they all do these days (even my 1998 car has one), and they've already been used against drivers. Since they record things like speed, brake and accelerator application, etc., they've been used in prosecuting drivers in traffic accidents.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I hope you don't really beleive that.

[Fierce Allegiance]

There were car rental companies that used GPS trackers to "fine" renters for driving too faast. They lost in court over doing that, but what would stop a government entity from doing the same thing. Of course, we will get people saying it's ok, just follow every rule and the government is your friend. Just like Soviet Russia. Yup.

[ASA Vet]

I'm still waiting for delivery of my Kobe Tai clone.

[Ham Hock]

I sure hope this won't apply to motorcycles.

[flada]

They already have "mileage-based road-user fees" only they're called gas taxes.

[MediaAnalyst]

What the MSM fails to mention here, and what should concern us FReepers is the unholy alliance that's now taking place between rich people who want the "little people" off of the road, and the environmentalists that want "everybody" off of the road, but are willing to settle for the "little people" as a starting point.

The end product of this system is gigantic, searchable, database that will have every vehicle's movements tracked for years, and will have the ability to toll people based on where they drive and when the drive. Since the government owns most streets (at least now), they will then have the power to "encourage" us to drive where they want, when they want...and, I'm sorry to say, lots of Republicans will jump on board (as CATO and Heritage already have), under the misguided assumption that government control over when and where we drive somehow amounts to using "market forces" to keep streets clear of congestion.

Luckily I'm old enough and rich enough not to be affected, but I still care.

[BenLurkin]

They want to take your privacy away from you for the common good.

[Postal Worker with a gun]

Check into how the government currently tracks commercial vehicles. Most 18 wheelers are equiped with a satilite tracking device, when stopped by a law enforcement officer anywhere, they can check back and see where I was and how fast I was driving. The electronic diesel engines in most trucks also keep track of speed,RPM and other things like how many times you applied your brakes. (If you apply your brakes a lot, it proves you were following too close.) It is only a matter of time before the same technology is applied to private vehicles. You are already there if you have Onstar or something similar. Goes back to my favorite movie, Enemy of the State (Gene Hackman,Will Smith)

[Fierce Allegiance]

With a CDL, you would be very screwed if you tampered with it, too.

[Issaquahking]

America's Wars Total


Sam Adams best summed it up when he said," If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands that which feed you. May your chain be set lightly upon you and posterity forget ye were our countrymen."

Time for a revolution against this dumba$$ idea! What kind of communists are sitting in positions of power? They need to be fired, if not prosecuted!

[Wonder Warthog]

"What do you wanna bet that will be potentially used against members of the citizenry?"

Sentence needs to be re-worded by dropping the word "potentially".

The Fedgov is out to implement "all-citizen-all-the-time" tracking, by whatever means it takes---national ID cards, national "health-care" databases, vehicle tracking. You name it, and they are out to implement it.

The only reason they aren't going directly to the type that can be physically implanted into our bodies is that the technology to power devices that track continuously isn't available.

[Fierce Allegiance]

It won't be llong till kids are implanted with RFID tags a little more advanced than those they use on dogs.

Yeah, we can strike the "potentially" from that sentence.

[Nalu]

We have a mileage tax.
It is call fuel tax, the more you drive the more fuel you use the more tax you pay.

[Husker24]

One study prepared for the Transportation Department predicts a PR success. "Less than 7 percent of the respondents expressed concerns about recording their vehicle's movements," it says.

Horse sh!t, id like to see how that question was worded.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Also, a tax on the fuel consumed would be more fair, because a heavier vehicle (generaly) uses more fuel, and they do more damage to the roadbed. A pure milage-based tax would not distribute the cost as appropriately.