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RFID for Automobile Tracking
mindless4210 writes "The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration has called on four of the largest RFID manufacturers to jointly develop dedicated short-range communications technology systems for a trial as part of the agency's efforts to cut road fatalities in the U.S. by 50% within 10 years. The DSRC prototype initiative is a prerequisite for introducing new roadway applications such as issuing alerts to drivers about impending intersection collisions, rollovers, weather-related road hazards, or warning a driver that his vehicle is going too fast to safely negotiate an upcoming curve. The FCC allocated the entire 5.9 GHz band to DSRC applications some time ago, making the development much more feasible. Any DRSC system would require DRSC technology to be built into new vehicles."
It's one of those privacy tradeoffs that actually looks quite good.
:)
RFID couldn't be used at this stage to track all the cars in the USA
so the chance of it impinging on your privacy is rather low.
However, with estimates of a 50% reduction in road deaths.. That's quite a dividend.
I for one welcome our new RFID overlords
Simon.
Now I just have to figure out a way to get my car into the microwave...
my 84 vw rabbit won't ever have RFID!
... ...
.. another save by Uncle Sam.
applications such as issuing alerts
(while seated in a board meeting, 28th floor overlooking metropolis, a small internal voice speaks)
"Sorry for this brief intrusion. This is your government speaking. The RFID tag embedded in your ass notified us moments ago. It appears as if you want to fart. This is just a warning - farting now, may be a bad idea, and could have unexpected consequences, and possible adverse career effects."
House of Delegates bans detector-detector-detector-detector ... ad-infinitum
RICHMOND, VA (AP) -- The House of Delegates has sent a bill to Gov. Warner making blocking RFID on cars illegal. They also appropriated $5 million to the State Police to equip trooper's cars with RFID blocker detectors and have set aside a portion of that money to buy RFID blocker detector-detector-detectors and made the posession of RFID blocker detector-detectors illegal. Any further detector-detectors will be made illegal barring a Commonwealth-wide brain explosion trying to understand it all. Virginia State Troopers are renowned as the Grey-Wheeled Wild Weasels because their cruisers resemble law-enforcement scale versions of electronic warfare airplanes used in Vietnam. The average cruiser has 4 alternators and 20 batteries used to power hundreds of radios, radars, VASCARs, remote rectal probes and other detection equipment, thus rendering the Old Dominion deserving of its nickname.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
First a chip in my head and now a RFID chip in my car. I'd be worried if i was interesting enough to be tracked.
The state where I live in even requires for these little metal signs to be mounted on the outside of my car with a unquie identifier! Can you believe it? There is a law that I have to have a little sticker on it, which I have to pay for every year also! Am I just renting my vechile from the goverment? I also heard that the Federal Government requires a unquie SN on each an every vechile made! That number is printed on parts all over your vechile and hidden from view.
I don't know about you, but I don't have much faith that I have ever had any privacy while in a vechile on a public road.
Hey now. If we all went around reading articles before jumping to parinoid conclusions, what kind of Slashdotters would we be?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Note that mindless4210 both posted the article and this thread. So this means we have posters that dont even read the article!
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I shall bake my car in a microwave oven! Hahaaaaaa! You'll see!
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck