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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."
[...] 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
Riiiiiight... they're wanting this system incorporated to protect you. They'd never dream of setting up receivers in traffic lights at (major) intersections to track the movement of people. Watch: it will be a crime to disable these systems, "for your safety" of course.
Yeah, yeah; I may need a tinfoil hat. Ask yourself, though, do you feel safer?
Trolling is a art,
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...
if you would have read the article the RFID transmitters would be in signs or markers along the roadway and your car would have the reciever.
in fact most of what they want has nothing to do with rfid at all...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
... ...
.. 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."
Everytime someone mentions RFID, the privacy people get to sound off about being tracked and the government being out to get them
The article makes no mention of using this technology for anything other than alerting drivers about road conditions and paying tolls. Even the article title here on slashdot is misleading in that regard.
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.
"weather-related road hazards, or warning a driver that his vehicle is going too fast to safely negotiate an upcoming curve."
Who decides when a car is going to fast??? I live in Michigan and if your going the speed limit that's to slow. Would they warn you based on a spped limit or what the road is rated at. The expressways here are rated for safe speeds at 20 or 30 miles an hour faster than the speed limit. This is also different depending on the car. A jeep can topple over easier than a grand prix (for example). Who decides these things????
Evolution or ID?
With driving habits like that it's only a matter of time before someone is injured or killed. I may see one patrol car a week on this long heavily travelled stretch, usually on Friday.
Short of trackng drivers with a satellite the authorities aren't going to know it even happened. Then there's the matter of who was driving the car. Much to my chagrin, after a hit and run, I found the San Jose, CA, police could care less if I have a license number, description of car and could identify the face of the driver. Just fill out the forms and your insurance company will take care of it.
It's hard to feel one way of the other about this. How does John Ashcroft feel about it? I'll probably trend the other way, but I don't think this will solve anything.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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?"
I guess my real question is this: when is it OK for the government to implement surveillance, tracking, monitoring, etc. in order to save lives? Or are we so afraid of own governments that we can't afford to allow such things?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Well, the technology is called DSRC, which is a form of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). DSRC uses radio frequencies to collect the data, which could be considered the identification part of the process. Either way, it's a network of sensors which pick up data from transmitters--RFID.
And yes, I read the article--I posted the damn thing.
Wireless News www.DailyWireless
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'm late for work, I jump in my underpowered Toyota Pyris hybrid and rush off for work. Manage to get it up to 66MPH and hear the speed alarm at just about the same moment I see the printer shoot off a slip of paper. A speeding ticket. These tickets have evolved to a sort of tax. The automated equipment can't take your license and can't stand up to cross examination in court so, they don't count as points on your driver's license so you are emailed a ticket you have to pay. In essence, a speed tax. I owe another $108.00. Third time this month!
A couple miles down the roadway, My GPS beeps and tells me that I should take an alternate route, there is congestion ahead. I'm sick of this because everyone else gets the same message and everyone is told to take the same alternate route. I'll ignore the advice today. Chances are, enough people will leave my route so that it will open up.
I use my voice activated phone to call the office and tell them I'll be a bit late, traffic is heavy.
The road ahead is jammed, it is not moving at all. I swerver to the right to make an exit but my radar screams! I look over my shoulder and see a car a hundred feet behind me. The alarm doesn't think that is enough room. I hear someone say "Go ahead" and I make my lane change. This intercar communication is pretty cool but it seems like almost every night you hear about a case of road-rage where someone got really pissed about what they heard. Maybe it isn't great for people with anger managment problems. I say thanks and catch my exit in a nick of time.
Golden Arches show up on my LCD display and I push the icon to place my drive through order. I'll swing in and pick up my coffee and muffin and my bank card will be debited. It is pretty cool how they know so much about you but I've heard that there are some slammers out there who routinely debit people as they drive by. It hasnt happened to me yet though.
I arrive at work and turn my car over to the valet. He can drive it slowly without the key within one mile of where I dropped it off. It is a nice service to use in this part of the city, things are pretty congested around here. I'm not worried, I can tell where my car is from my desktop, I can also monitor the wife and the kids!
I don't know how we did it back in the first part of the century! Only problem is that I gotta work 13 hours a day to pay for all this convenience!