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IBM to Help UAE Track Drivers on the Road
Mr.Bananas writes "InformationWeek reports that IBM has announced a deal with United Arab Emirates in which it would provide speed tracking devices that will automatically warn violators of traffic laws: "The telematics device will use multiple microprocessors based on IBM's Power Architecture, and will have the capability to monitor the speed of the vehicle and send out a warning if the car surpasses the posted speed limit." GeekCoffee goes on to report that tickets will be issued automatically to violators who ignore the warnings: "If the voice warning is ignored, the system would use a GSM/GPRS link to beam the car's speed, identity and location to the police so that a ticket could be issued.""
Warning: This user has performed an illegal operation, and will be booked now.
DRIVER_IN_RED_SEDAN has caused an invalid page fault in module speeding_fines_are_a_cash_cow.dll at 0157:21114020
Please save all your files, and pull over to the left-side of the road, and exit the vehicle. You may click the button "(*&#%)(*#$#@$#@ piece of c*ap" to view further details, or to see what will be sent to the Roads Revenue Collection Service about this incident. Click "Send Private Data" to send your private and confidential data to IBM, or alternatively, don't click anything, and we will do it anyway.
Please have a nice day.
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This is exactly the kind of propaganda governments like to spew.
1) Yes there are citizens who drive fast and follow too close. Just like there are citizens who smoke, eat too much, don't excercise, fart and burp in public. FACE reality, that is called humanity.
2) Speeding tickets has nothing to do with safety, but everything to do with making money in the government. Don't believe me? Check the revenue at the local law enforcement office.
3) Hazardous driving like following too close, passing too tightly, which is on the books of as illegal, has no revenue stream. Yet these actions themselves are highly dangerous and CAUSE accidents. Why are cops not checking for these infractions? Simple, it means WORK, and the revenue earned is less than the effort required. Meaning its not a cash cow.
4) Highway speeds are way too low. Why is it that in Germany you can drive as fast as you can, Switzerland is 120 KPH, Austria 130 KPH, France 130 KPH, Canada 100 KPH, and the US 90-110 KPH? So that means driving by the books in Germany gets you speed tickets most other places, driving by the book in France and Austria will get you tickets in Canada and the US? Come on, these are artificial limits setup so that MOST people people end up speeding.
These days cars and highways for a large part have become safe enough for 150-160 KPH. And with electronic signs in many countries aspeed limit can be altered reflecting the conditions on the highway. Why is this not enforced? Simple, speed tickets = cash cow = simple way of saying, "We are tough on accidents". BS, BS, BS!!!
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Well, the technology is good, I can think of hundreds of useful applications for it. But the privacy issues just scare the hell out of me. And, where? in UAE? If it was in a civilized democratic country, where there are restrictions on what a government can do, where there are unions and institutions which care about citizens' rights, then maybe the use of these applications can be justified. But in UAE?
I lived in the UAE for more than 2 years. I had a very nice job there working at a multinational telecommunication company. Being and Iranian myself, it was a very good opportunity for me as my country was nearby and en route to other places, I could stop at my country a couple of times a year to say hello to my family. But there are things in that country which just scared the shit out of me. Things that eventually made me forget the job and the good opportunity it provided, and virtually escape from there.
In UAE, a car's plate number can have variable number of digits. No 1 is reserved for the Sultan of the province (there are 7 provinces there, Dubai being the biggest one). No 2 is usually the Sultan's brother, and the 1 digit numbers are all family members of the sultan. Cousins and close friends get 2 digit numbers, as well as their wives and their children. The 3 digit numbers are also relatives of the relatives of Sultan. Ordinary cars have 5 digits on their plates.
The situation is that no one can stand in the way of a lower-digit car. If you see a 2 or 3 digit car coming from the opposite direction, it doesn't matter if it's your line of road or not, you have to make way for him. The police can not issue tickets to these cars. They do not obey the speed limit; mostly they have Ferraris and Porches which easily pass the 180 mph, and no one can even stop them. Legally, the police can do nothing with them.
They have all the money of the world. They have built bridges longer and more modern than those in Japan and Sweden, they have made skyscrapers that make New York look like a village, they have cars which automobile manufacturers hand made for their special needs. They have made a heaven out there. And if you just want to have some holiday, get on the beech, go to a resort or something; it is a perfect place. But only if you care nothing about the political situation, and the mentality of the people.
There are no political parties. No Elections. No private newspaper, no private T.V channel, basically no free speech. The thing that surprised me was that unlike the people of my country, who also lack these things, but at least are fighting in order to get them; they even do not think about having a democratic society, having liberty, and privacy. It is as if these words do not exist in the dictionary of an ordinary Arab. They have been brought up with the mentality that you never question the ruler. They never criticize a single action of any governmental body; be it the municipality, or any other bureau. It was so shocking, and yet embarrassing to me.
If this technology was being deployed in a democratic country, you would have had many organizations and groups voicing concerns over it. If did not prevent the deployment of such technology, they would have at least made sure that the necessary checks and restrictions on the storage and usage of information about every single car exists. As it is in the UAE, I'm sure no one will even question this thing. No one will even think about how this technology can be used to violate their rights and privacy. It doesn't matter how much money and oil they have and what kind of gadgets they use to control their traffic; when a society lacks basic elements like freedom of speech; that society will not evolve in a positive manner.
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I'm sorry, but I need to respond to this.
Bringing up the police always seems to generate these "cops are all lazy, greedy, donut-eating, keeping-the-little-guy-down, tools-of-the-fascist-oppressors" posts.
As a slashdotter with a background in law enforcement, I'll let you in on a little secret: with the exception of the highway patrol guys, most municipal/county cops HATE doing traffic. It's boring, repetitive, and most cops would much rather be doing something/anything else.
Most police officers do NOT look on themselves as good little revenue-generators for their respective cities/mayors... the relationship is usually far, far more fractious and antagonistic than that. Besides, the individual cops don't get a cut of those tickets. There is little incentive to bust your butt, deal with the nasty attitudes of the people you stop, generate irate letters-to-the-editor in your local paper, all while doing something that you hate anyway. With the exception of a few small-town speedtraps (that have given other cops a black eye), most cops have better things to do than sit on their ass and write tickets all day.
That said, a good knowledge of the traffic laws can serve you well. If you see someone acting suspiciously, their breaking of a traffic law gives you probable cause to stop them. Then, while writing their ticket, you look through the back window and see a gun and ski mask laying on the floor in the back seat (or you see the occupants madly stashing contraband as you execute your vehicle approach)
BTW, the assured-clear-distance tickets, reckless operation citations, etc are finable offenses, so the "no revenue" accusation doesn't wash. Fact is, fewer of those offenses are ticketed because people take great pains not to commit them in front of police. You would not believe the difference in driver behavior, simply by comparing what you observe while driving your POV to what you observe while driving a marked cruiser.
There's a reason the expression "driving like you've got a cop behind you" exists.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.