Slashdot Mirror
UK Police Want An Automotive Tractor Beam
Barryke writes "According to The Observer, England is working on a remote control for cars to be used by the police. England's police force is lobbying to get a remote-control to stop other cars; this could also be used to limit speeds. Since needed technology is already available in modern cars, modification is very easy and cheap. But what if I just escape by hitting the clutch and use my speed to go downhill? Bet I'm in the hospital before they are!" Orwellian, or ... Californian?
How is a speed limiter on your car NOT in the "best interests of the population?" Especially when a new teenager gets behind the wheel of daddies Camaro? Oh, when you're trying to outrun the police? Who have radios galore, guns, helicopters and concussion grenades... :-/
;-)
Lorries (tractor-trailers for those of us State-side) have had speed governors for years, although many were removed so rigs could drive faster so as to get their cargoes to their targets faster.
How long before car-hacking becomes more mainstream?
Wouldn't it have been nice if my .sig included some kind of "WARNING:" to make sure people don't just click without thinking?
If you had javascript disabled, you would not have had any problem.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
First off, it's quite unlikely it would ever hit a human. It is not meant to be used causally.
If you are that terified of potential of bad PR, you should take cops' guns away. That would prevent any more children being accidentally killed, but I don't think the PR would be better...
I think you'd see positive PR when people no longer see criminals causing thousands of dollars in police expenses, only to have the criminals getting away from the cops anyhow. If you can end a chase in 10 seconds, the PR would be phenominally good.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
No, it is not safe by any means. Criminals will begin using it immediately.
With a Gun, you either have the gun, or you don't. No $50 worth of electronics is going to give the criminals control of the gun.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
As per usual, the civil liberty brigade are up in arms over what could actually be a beneficial weapon in the fight against crime. The same arguments were rolled out when identity card were proposed by the UK Government. i.e. "Its a bad idea because of problems x and y and z".
The question isn't whether taking control over speeding cars is good or bad, its "Will it make our streets safer ?"
For instance, if the number of deaths and injuries to innocent bystanders caused by drivers trying to outrun the police is less than the number who are killed or injured by the use of the technology then the answer to the question "Will it make our streets safer ?" is yes.