Posted on 12/25/2005 5:28:12 PM PST by elkfersupper
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Missouri transportation officials approved a controversial contract Friday that will allow a private corporation to track signals from motorists' cell phones to map traffic snarls and highway congestion on major roads throughout the state.
As early as next week, that company, the National Engineering Technology Corp. (NET), will start monitoring thousands of cell phones in Kansas City and St. Louis, using their movements to test how to relay traffic conditions to the public in real time.
While officials say the program will make Missouri a national leader in "intelligent" traffic management, privacy advocates are concerned that getting more frequent travel time updates on road signs and Web sites may come at a price.
"This is a leap forward in our nation," said Missouri Department of Transportation Director Pete Rahn, minutes before the Highways and Transportation Commission's unanimous vote to authorize the contract. "No other department of transportation will be able to keep the users of their system as well informed."
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.
In six months, transportation officials say, Missouri motorists will be able to calculate their commute times by viewing such maps on the government's Web sites. Distilled versions of the information will also be displayed on electronic road signs along major highways, they said.
Cell phone monitoring already is being used by transportation officials in Baltimore, though not yet to relay traffic conditions to the public. Similar projects are getting under way in Norfolk, Va., and a stretch of Interstate 75 between Atlanta and Macon, Ga.
But monitoring phone signals along Missouri's 5,500 miles of major roads, many of which run through rural areas where cell phone coverage is spotty, makes for an additional challenge. On Friday, state officials had not determined which cell phone companies would provide information for the program.
That raised eyebrows at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
"Consumers should have the right to opt into this public service," said Lillie Coney, associate director of Washington, D.C.-based EPIC. "Missouri may be creating a base for a new industry on the shoulders of the taxpayers."
Don Hillis, the director of system management for the Department of Transportation, said the state explored other options to provide the traffic flow information that motorists and logistics planners now expect and decided that wireless data collection was the cheapest way to go.
"We'll be able to give our drivers traffic information throughout their trips," said Hillis, who has overseen the project since its inception. "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." Hillis said regional planning commissions like the Mid-America Regional Council and the East-West Gateway Council of Governments will also have free access to the data to tackle congestion problems.
And as wireless technology evolves, Missouri officials believe there may be so much interest from users outside the government - such as trucking companies, satellite radio, mobile phones and GPS devices - that their investment could pay for itself.
Under the terms of the $6.2 million, two-year contract, NET will wholly own the information and is free to sell it to outside vendors that could profit from offering just-in-time travel updates. The government has no authority to monitor where the information ends up, but Hillis said that after two years, the state may enter a revenue-sharing agreement with NET.
"If you travel on a certain route every day, we'll eventually be able to give you alerts to see if an instance would keep you from getting to work on time," said Steven McDonald, a senior project manager for NET. "This has a lot of potential."
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
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.
Which is why we've pulled the fuse on the OnStar box.
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.
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.
It USED to be a chicken.
Now it's, "A spy in every pot!"
1984 Landcruiser bump.
Yeah, baby!
>>>It creeps me out.<<<
Wait till they RFID-chip the horse you bought to avoid all that surveillance built into your car... :)
So....what's the sunset provision on this baby?
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?
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.....
I can't stand this idea.
>>>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.
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.
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.
Gee, just put some camera's out there on the overpasses, no need to track people
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?
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