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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 6th 2005 2:19pm





Texas Bill Would Put Transponders In Every Car

from the you-have-no-privacy-anywhere dept

Bob Dole writes "The vice-chairman of the Texas House Transportation Committee has figured out how to do away with those nasty camera tickets. He has introduced a bill to require all state inspection stickers to store and transmit information about you and your vehicle to roadside machines. If the information in a newly created database of every auto insurance policy in the state says your policy is expired, you'll be mailed a $250 ticket. If that ticket gets lost in the mail, don't worry because you won't get another one -- your license and registration are automatically suspended for six months." Seems like a similar plan to ones in California and Oregon to require a GPS device in every car that would report on where you drove so the state could more accurately tax you for driving. Clearly, the idea that you might have some right to privacy concerning where you go doesn't seem to register much with certain state government officials.

8 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Amber Alert

    identicon
    dorpus, Apr 6th, 2005 @ 2:46pm

    It would sure make solving child abduction cases easier.

    Why are Americans so obsessed with "privacy"? Do they have so much to hide?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Re: Amber Alert

    identicon
    dumpus, Apr 6th, 2005 @ 4:20pm

    You have no idea dumbass.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Re: Amber Alert

    identicon
    dorpus, Apr 6th, 2005 @ 6:08pm

    I am an American, in case you thought otherwise.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    it would help...

    identicon
    Vik, Apr 7th, 2005 @ 3:12am

    Getting access to this new database would help to track the idiot who introduced it to one of the local 'massage' salons and post his whereabouts on the web. We'll see how long that database would live after that :)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re: Amber Alert

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Apr 7th, 2005 @ 10:07am

    Why is our government so concerned with secrecy? Does it have so much to hide?

    If the president and his staff can hold close session discussions with Enron, we should be allowed are "trade secrets" as well.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Re: Amber Alert

    identicon
    Anonymous of Course, Apr 7th, 2005 @ 10:34am

    The expectation of privacy in a person's personal matters is as old as the constitution. Maybe we should ban postal envelopes, forcing everyone to correspond via post cards for the convenience of the government? After all, honest people have nothing to hide. No, the question is how far shall the bureaucrats be allowed to abridge our right to privacy. The more that's known the easier it is to control- and it's all about control.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    nothing to do with our safety

    identicon
    Jason L, Jun 7th, 2006 @ 3:48pm

    This will become a way to charge you tax when you drive from one place to another. If you think about it a little more, it is a way to prevent us from free travel in the US, so it the artificial increase in gas prices.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  

    correction

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jun 7th, 2006 @ 3:50pm

    so is the artificial increase in gas prices.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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