More Big Brother

[DaveDragon]

Clik Here (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71436-0.html?tw=rss.index)

[tmgs]

Clik Here (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71436-0.html?tw=rss.index)



makes ya worry don't it

[mpillis]

It is also another piece of the puzzle on how the government will begin taxing us by the number of miles we drive per year.

[dshealey]

There will be good and bad if this really takes off.

Good would be getting uninsured motorists off the road, finding stolen cars quicker, tracking criminals, etc., etc..

Bad would be---------, what? Even the taxing by mileage is not "bad", IF they even out the taxing so those who drive the least have taxes LOWERED. Yeah, that will happen. :D

Anything has the possibilites of being misused, but this one could actually do more good than harm in my opinion.

[UncleRock]

Krylon clear acrylic coating Gloss
Under fixatives in your art supply store.
Put several layers on aloow them to dry between layers
Rock

[rixchard]

Don't be so paranoid.

For that to work you would need a camera at every place where a driver could decide which way to go and one at everyplace the driver could stop.

Now, why setup all that hackable hardware to tax someone for the miles they drive when the easy way is to bill you when you get your inspection sticker.

[mpillis]

1) we don't have inspections here in Kentucky
2) the tax will be in addition to the gas tax.
3) they are already doing this in parts of Europe, I think England

Hell here in Northern Kentucky I have to pay a "storm water runoff tax every quarter for the amount of rain that runs off my property. The irony of it is that the street runioff runs down the drains thru pipes into the creeek in my backyard. They should be paying me. Sorry another sore subject

[tmgs]

There will be good and bad if this really takes off.

Good would be getting uninsured motorists off the road, finding stolen cars quicker, tracking criminals, etc., etc..

Bad would be---------, what? Even the taxing by mileage is not "bad", IF they even out the taxing so those who drive the least have taxes LOWERED. Yeah, that will happen. :D

Anything has the possibilites of being misused, but this one could actually do more good than harm in my opinion.

OMG shut up Tom, no don't say it!

sheesh isn;t there enough Gov control in our lives NOW!

I'm out for a ride, I can't stand this one!

Tom

[DaveDragon]

Krylon clear acrylic coating Gloss
Under fixatives in your art supply store.
Put several layers on aloow them to dry between layers
Rock
Hey Rock, I tried the product, two cans actually.
It seems to be less reflective than the tape on the Florida Tags!
I put six coats on my truck tag and a flash photo still clearly shows the lettering on the tag.

[rixchard]

No yearly inspections? How quaint :)

Still, yearly 'milage inspections' would be a more effective way to collect a milage tax than sticking plate recording cameras at every intersection.

England does have CCTV cameras everywhere., but I am not aware that they use these to collect taxes. Could you provide some linkage to more info about that use?

[mpillis]

Here is one link but there are more if you search. oregon is also considering it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4610901.stm

[rixchard]

Interesting. I predict a big market for Faraday cages in ther near future

[NM99K12LT]

http://1-radar-laser-jammers-detectors.com/our-store/photo-radar/vf1.php

Great solution if they were priced about 50% less. Here in Albuquerque, the city is going nuts installing photo red light runner and speeding systems as fast as they can - they made a fortune during the "test" phase" and just rolled out systems in parked vans for speeding - $100 for 1-10 mph over!

[dshealey]

No yearly inspections? How quaint :)-----------

No yearly inspection in CA either! We have to have a smog check every two years, but you can run with no windshield wipers, bald tires, cracked windshield, etc. until some LEO notices and gives you a "fix it" ticket, which is pretty rare. You should see some of the vehicles we have on our roads!

[rixchard]

I have got to get out more :)

[hschisler]

Responding to Dave's original post, and several replies since then:

1. Yes, this concerns me and no, I'm not paranoid. Government will find a way to use/misuse/abuse this information. I think no one has the right to know where I am, where I'm going or where I've been except my family. This topic has been "out there" before on this site. I refer to some movie titles that address issue: The Minority Report, for example, where every citizen is tracked by his/her unique retina patterns.

2. Want to collect a road tax? OK, that's reasonable (if there has to be another tax); do it annually, without collection my travel data.

3. There are no annual inspections in my part of Ohio, either; thus, we'll need some other collection point -- perhaps the annual license plate renewal?

4. Special coatings, tapes, etc. to make license plates not viewable by red-light cameras are fine, but what happens when this process is manned -- a LEO sees your license plate realtime, notices he can't read the license plate and cites you for obscuring the license plate from the camera?

5. In a related move, many products are being tagged with a tiny, disposable radio transmitter. The ostensible reasons for this are (1) to help prevent theft, and (this is the biggie) (2) "for our convenience" -- in this case, at checkout time. (I don't recall the name of the technology at this time.)

There's a lot of things out there that tell the world what we do, who we talk to, where we go, and what we buy. We don't need more of this stuff. I'm ready to join the Amish!

[LT_Tripping]

"5. In a related move, many products are being tagged with a tiny, disposable radio transmitter. The ostensible reasons for this are (1) to help prevent theft, and (this is the biggie) (2) "for our convenience" -- in this case, at checkout time. (I don't recall the name of the technology at this time.)"

I believe you are referring to RFID....Wal-mart is the early mass adopter at this point.

[jayz9705]

David, how would you rate this relative to the computers already in cars that record events, throttle, position, seatbelt use, speed, steering angle, etc. for some period of real-time? The info the insurance companies want to use in case you have an accident, even tho the computer is there for EPA purposes.


BIG BROTHER IS ALREADY IN YOUR SHORTS!!!

[hig4s]

It is also another piece of the puzzle on how the government will begin taxing us by the number of miles we drive per year.


Crap, I might just as well sign my paycheck over.

[hschisler]

"5. In a related move, many products are being tagged with a tiny, disposable radio transmitter. The ostensible reasons for this are (1) to help prevent theft, and (this is the biggie) (2) "for our convenience" -- in this case, at checkout time. (I don't recall the name of the technology at this time.)"

I believe you are referring to RFID....Wal-mart is the early mass adopter at this point.Yep, that's it. I think it stands for Radio Frequency Identification.

[hschisler]

Crap, I might just as well sign my paycheck over.Now I can get a chuckle out of this thread! That's good.:)

[meese]

Anything has the possibilites of being misused, but this one could actually do more good than harm in my opinion.I went through a couple of links, and found a story about a woman who owed $85 to the city and had her car towed from her own driveway, with absolutely no warning. :eek:

Apparently you have 10 days to pay up, including towing and storage fees, or they auction your car. They can do this for any fees owed the city, including overdue library book charges. So I'm on vacation for two weeks and forget to turn in my library books before leaving. When I come back, my car is gone, and sold off at auction to pay a 25¢ fine. :eek:

All the related stories talk about how the cities are making tons of "free" money off of these devices. So I'm fearing more bad than good, unless some serious restrictions are put into place.

[JimG]

No yearly inspections? How quaint :)


England does have CCTV cameras everywhere., but I am not aware that they use these to collect taxes. Could you provide some linkage to more info about that use?


Most CCTV cameras are nothing to do with roads taxing but there are plenty of cameras checking on traffic. First are the so called safety cameras which are used for catching and fining speeders. The latest ones are used for reading number plates to check if the driver has paid the annual road tax, these are used together with traffic police who can stop any transgressors. There are proposals to link this into a national database that can also check for insurance and if the vehicle has passed its annual MOT check. There is some concern that these plate checking cameras will become fitted on every main road and keep a record of every vehicle including mileage possibly leading to a mileage tax. There have also been proposals to fit every number plate with a radio tag and have detectors on every road, reasons given include making it easier to detect criminals or stolen vehicles.

[rixchard]

Well at least there was one person here who understood what I was typing

[midwilshire]

Just like government monitoring of my access to bmwlt.com, I don't really care about them tracking my LT's movements - I just don't see the danger (but am open to edification on the topic). FYI, there is no constitutional right to privacy regarding the location of your vehicle on public streets.

Nevertheless, this (http://www.stealthkit.com/) is a pretty cool bit of counterintelligence.

[jkersh1]

It is also another piece of the puzzle on how the government will begin taxing us by the number of miles we drive per year.

What puzzle? You don't think all the price of gas goes to the oil companies, or the asphalt fairy paves the roads? http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp

More miles=more gas=more tax. In some states the combined (federal, state, local) taxes exceed 60 cents for every gallon per figure 2:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1054.html

Check out the cool, but wildly misleading, Figure 1. The Rising Federal Gasoline Excise Tax.

[eljeffe]

Just like government monitoring of my access to bmwlt.com, I don't really care about them tracking my LT's movements - I just don't see the danger (but am open to edification on the topic). FYI, there is no constitutional right to privacy regarding the location of your vehicle on public streets.

Actually, there's no Constitutional right to privacy period. The current view on privacy is based on Supreme Court opinions and rulings, which are fluid and subject to change based on the whims of the court.