E-Tracking May Change the Way You Drive

frdmfghtr writes "ZDNet.com is running a story about a runaway idea of a tracking automobiles via GPS. Not to be confused with the Canadian project geared towards anti-speeding ideas, this one does in fact have the goal of tracking your vehicle. 'The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these 'mileage-based road user fees.' However, the article goes on to talk about how there is no provision in place to prevent the uncontrolled surveillance of motorists without a court order."

Comments

I only got one thing to say about that...

[SealBeater]

Here

SealBeater

Re:Similar to Alistair Darling's idea?

[inputsprocket]

...insomuch as it proved a right fiasco in Germany, who now "plans to [scrap the idea and] reintroduce a sticker system for collecting tolls, which it had abandoned last August."

But then again, Americans can succeed where others have failed.

cant they?

Too late: already RFID's in every new tire

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless plan on buying pre-2002 tires for the rest of your life, you are already being tracked by RFID'ish tags. This was put into law a while ago, tire manufacturers don't publicize it: http://www.underreported.com/modules.php?op=modloa d&name=News&file=article&sid=702

Re:Sounds good

[Vellmont]

If you dont have anything to hide you really shouldnt be against it.


Yup.. because the federal government *cough-McCarthyism-cough* has such a great *cough-Watergate-cough* history *cough-Guantanamo Bay-cough* of not abusing it's *cough-Japanese internment-cough* power..

Re:User fees are the way to go

[User 956]

thing is, they already do this-- it's called the fuel tax. The only benefit the GPS solution has over the fuel tax is that big brother gets to track your every move.

Re:User fees are the way to go

[Anonymous Luddite]

The jurisdiction I live in has HUGE taxes on gasoline. So yeah, you're right.

We already have a very effective user-pay program in place without GPS. The license and registration fees paid each year are _nothing_ compared to the non-stop user fees paid when filling up.

The more I drive, the more I pay. - If the gas taxes were being used for highway safety or maintenance rather than going into general revenue, I'd feel a little less screwed by the whole process...

The courts ruled NO to tracking without a warrant

[Anonymous Coward]

Recent court cases have CLEARLY stated that tracking people without a warrant is illegal. http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_10.php

This case dealt with a cell phone as the technology used to track, so what. The technology used is irrelevant. A person is being tracked without a warrant, that's illegal.

Re:User fees are the way to go

[1u3hr]

We already have mileage based tracking without GPS. It's called an odometer.

Has no one read TFA? The idea is not simply mileage, you can achieve that just with taxing gasoline, and encourage fuel efficiency at the same time; but to charge different rates depending on congestion; e.g. if you go into othe city in rush hour, you pay more than if you go in at 3 am, or if you go on a trip on a rural backroad. At least then those who can reschedule their trips have an incentive to do so.

Re:User fees are the way to go

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

This all changed just after the Civil War, where the jury system fell flat on its face due to widespread racism, mostly in the south. How would a black fella get a fair trial in a matter involving a dispute with a white folk? Either 1) Jurors are white, in which case he'd hang for blowing snot on the boss' hankie, or 2) Jurors are black, so he gets off scott-free.

So, offenses and penalties were codified, and state constitutions all over the place were altered, introducing this new "Penal Code" that everybody was suppposed ta follow.

What the hell?! What are you talking about? You do realise countries have had Legal Codes for far, far longer than the United States even existed. Even before the civil war, the US and many other legal systems were already a quagmire of often contridictory laws beset with loopholes.

I don't know where you're getting these ideas from. Especially given that rasicim in juries is still a problem even today. The current US legal system has less to do with the civil war than it has to do with simple human nature and society. See legal and socal history, economics, and most of the rest of the Guide.

Has everyone gone bonkers?

[Xyleene]

I value my privacy. Not because I break the law and not because I don't think some supreme body should not be watching me but because a Government that is made up of regular people just like you and I shouldn't have that kind of over reaching power over us. Has everyone forgotten this???? I read the posts here and am scared for the first time about the views of many Slashdotters. Never thought I'd see the day.

A government is for the people by the people. Do you remember the intrusiveness of the Nazi regime and the USSR??? This is part of what we detest when looking back at these societies. Sloly but surely even the Land of the free is coming around.... Give the people the illusion of choice and they will follow like sheep I guess

To address the other issue raised here there are legitimate concerns about highway taxes but there acceptable solutions outlined in other posts that don't involve tracking every citizen that drives a car.

Re:User fees are the way to go

[Anonymous Coward]

As an avid cyclist, I'd love to assume it will end at user fees. But just because that's what the system is designed for doesn't mean that's how this stuff will end up.

It will be used to spy on people. Case in point, Germany recently introduced motorway tolls for trucks. The toll collection system is GPS based. In order to soothe public opinion, a law was voted ("Autobahnmautgesetz") that specifically forbids the use of the toll information for purposed unrelated to toll.

However, recently a truck was involved in a gruesome runaway accident. This was enough of an excuse for parliament to consider changing the law.

All these systems initially come with a guarantee that they won't be used to invade privacy. However, once a suitably moving event happens, that event will be abused to sway the public opinion and abolish the privacy guarantees.

When in the course of human events ...

[joelsanda]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Re:For Sale: Red Barchetta, low mileage, great con

[Dave21212]

Luckily for you, Volvos are legendary in their longevity :)

I wonder though, if there's a simple list out there of all automobiles with a "black box" - I can't find an organized, easy to read list on Google yet, but here's a list of all the supported car models carrying Vehtronics boxes (and the box locations)... and the OEM database for On Board Diagnostics (looks to be very complete). Oh, and some info on pre-1995 models.

Post back if you come across a better listing !
Thanks.

Re:TOP SECRET FACT:Most modern cars tracking ALREA

[njyoder]

This is way too over-the-top for me to believe this guy is anything other than a troll, read the end: "
4 out of 5 times this post was rapidly modded to -1 by fbi shills angry at the epson ink info and tire info and explosives taggant info and only one time did it survive the FBI negative modding Slashdot accounts and remain at +2 by the next day. If you like to read RFID facts like this that I BROKE FIRST IN SPRING OF 2001 here on Slashdot, then keep this vital post from getting modded to -1 by idiots that cannot follow links or perform searches for themselves."

Come on, FBI shills? I can't believe this got moderated up, this is bad even by Slashdot's standards. You should be ashamed!

In case you actually bother to look up anything he mentioneds, like the TREAD Act, you'll note there is no conspiracy. The TREAD act is about Tire Safety and Accountability for defective/bad tires, it has nothing to do with tracking or RFID.

TREAD act

[YesIAmAScript]

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/Cfc_title49/publ414 .106.pdf

Go ahead and search it. It requires better labelling, but no RFID chips. There doesn't even seem to be anything in there to even let you identify a particular tire, just perhaps model and manufacture date or something.

Conspiracy theorists (and trolls) never check their sources too carefully, it just dampenens the ranting.

Re:constitution

[isotope23]

There is no constitutional right to travel

WTF are you smoking?

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Go re-read your constitution, and the federalist papers. The constitution does not grant rights, rights are inherent. They only listed a few important ones within the constitution, but because these are natural rights you have them and a host of others even if they are not listed in the constitution....

Even if you ignore the ninth and tenth amendments, what about the first?
E.G. "the right of the people peaceably to assemble"? obviously we the people cannot assemble without traveling to said assembly. So yeah, I'd say that alone says we DO have the right of travel.

As for the right to track you,

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This is to my mind clearly a case of unreasonable search and seizure. The right of the people to be secure in their persons surely means secure from tracking my whereabouts.

People like you scare me. It is a sad testament to what america and its educational system have become.