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Traffic Light Switcher Makes Critics See Red

Posted by simoniker on from the green-for-go dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to a Yahoo/Washington Post article: 'It sounds like a suffering commuter's dream come true: a dashboard device that changes red traffic lights to green at the touch of a button. Police, fire and rescue vehicles have had access to such equipment for years, but now the devices are becoming available to ordinary motorists thanks to advances in technology and a little help from the Internet. Safety advocates are outraged, and news accounts in Michigan last week led to politicians there seeking a ban on the gadgets'." Update: 11/06 02:25 GMT by S : A previous Slashdot story mentions the device, though not the Michigan legislature's subsequent ire.

5 of 600 comments (clear)

  1. I GOT A GREASED UP YODA DOLL SHOVED UP MY ASS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    SHOVE LINUX!

  2. and slashdot readers.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    get bored of dumbass repeats....

    timothy is gay.

  3. It's boring already... by Gadzinka · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    It's boring already.

    Another security-through-obscurity device got broken, and what is the reaction of powers-that-be? Outlaw the devices that let people get around this measures. You could as well outlaw crime.

    Will I ever see the taxpayers' money spent on good security, that is uncrackable by insiders? I mean, I could design several orders of magnitude better system while eating pizza, and I'm just stupid sysadm/programmer.

    Robert

    PS I know they did outlaw crime ;) Did they stop it?

    --
    Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
  4. Re:I Wish... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    It's like the end of Return of the Kings, where Sam and Frodo are dead, and Sauron still exists...

  5. Re:Can someone tell me... by BitGeek · · Score: 0, Flamebait


    The FCC is unconstitutional, and should not be allowed to control anything.

    You know why TV is shit? The FCC.

    They directly violate the first ammendment... but our socialist masters must have control over the news we hear, lest we actually hear of libertarian candidates for president before the election... people might -- GASP!--- vote for them?!!!

    Same thing here... if you put in a back door, tough luck. People are going to use it. Put in real security.

    The government does not have the RIGHT to ban these devices.

    People need to stop thinking of the government as a legitimate authority in all areas... they aren't.

    Course we wouldn't have this problem i nthe first place if government hadn't illegally taken a monopoly in roads... private road services would provide much better ambulence and other emergency services as much lower cost.

    Just goes to show, once again, that government is a disease masquarading as its own cure! IT always wants to fix problems that IT CAUSED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

    --
    Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/ 1816257