The US will start tracking all drivers

Published on December 26th, 2005

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.”

The problem, though, is that these “road user fee” systems are being designed and built in a way that strips drivers of their privacy and invites constant surveillance by police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

And that’s a problem how? Well, it’s because…

No restrictions prevent police from continually monitoring, WITHOUT a court order, the whereabouts of every vehicle on the road. The Fourth Amendment provides no protection. The U.S. Supreme Court said in two cases, U.S. v. Knotts and U.S. v. Karo, that Americans have no reasonable expectation of privacy when they’re driving on a public street. (Emphasis added)

Wait, it gets worse…

Even more shocking are additional ideas that bureaucrats are hatching. A report prepared by a Transportation Department-funded program in Washington state says the GPS bugs must be made “tamper proof” and the vehicle should be disabled if the bugs are disconnected.

And the sheepish nature of our nation’s populace comes through…

One study prepared for the Transportation Department predicts a PR success. “Less than 7 percent of the respondents expressed concerns about recording their vehicle’s movements,” it says.

I think people will be outraged by this, but only after it’s already in place and it’s too late to do anything about it. And I love how the “real” purpose is supposed to be for collecting state taxes. Yeah, that’s why it’s our federal government pushing AND paying for it. And we have to ask how long it’ll be until ALL our movements are tracked.

And it should be noted there is a third sinister purpose: Insurance Companies. Right now this technology is being used in rental vehicles. Those companies know exactly where you go and can determine fault of accidents or theft. For example, whether you were driving well past the speed limit when the accident occurred. Or the records could show that the keys were left in the ignition when the car was stolen, thus the insurance wouldn’t cover the loss.

And as usual with mandatory systems like this, it gives the end users, formerly known as citizens, NO benefit whatsoever. And it will only harm honest people. Let’s face it, does anyone really think a system like this could be completely enforced? We’ve been driving cars without the system for over a century. Clearly those who don’t want to be tracked simply will opt out on their own. Sure, tickets will be given out, maybe even jail sentences for non-compliance, but it’s not as if bank robbers, drug dealers, and terrorists are really concerned about that.

One last thing to think about. Will this information be available under the Freedom of Information Act? The answer: Yes. The government is claiming this will be used to collect taxes and peripherally for insurance companies and other third parties. The government cannot claim that this information is classified but then give it out like candy to state and corporate interests. So think about this, ANYONE will be able to track our movements without impediment, including terrorists and other criminals. Would you really want anyone to know that 1., you’re on vacation several states away, and 2. even if you left immediately you wouldn’t be able to get back for a week. Oh yeah, that makes me feel SO much safer!

18 users responded in " The US will start tracking all drivers "

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# 1 Dvorak reader said, on December 26th, 2005 at 6:51 am

This sort of stuff is driven by the government vending industry.
Start by putting tracking devices in all government (public) owned vehicles.Want to know where your senator is? Use the Web to follow the senator.

A DOJ staffer takes a car from the government car pool and it has GPS, so anybody can track the car with a GPS equipped PC. It’s a public car. Is your governor speeding? See the Super State Satellite Tracker to find out now. Maybe the government people would all start buying their own cars, which will be tracked also. Start with the govenment owned cars and see how it works out from there.

# 2 Dvorak reader said, on December 26th, 2005 at 7:10 am

The UN corruption files get a secret and secure location. Total privacy for the corrupt docs. The honest public gets no privacy and tracked. Sounds kind of dumb. Go back to bed. Maybe they will track that next with a GPS RFID tagged matress. Technology is a crutch for the weak minded. We need more technology, that’s for sure.

# 3 George Sanders said, on December 26th, 2005 at 8:16 am

Another good reason to hang onto my 1964 Chevy II.

# 4 Dvorak reader said, on December 26th, 2005 at 8:40 am

I just found some priceless jewelry in boxes of inexpensive cereal.
I’m rich!

# 5 GregAllen said, on December 26th, 2005 at 10:22 am

Goodness what a misguided use of technology… especially for taxes.

A gas tax is about as fair a “road usage fee” as you can get. The more you drive the more you pay. It also costs more to drive a road-wearing giganto SUV or a heavy polluter.

It does make sense for rental vehicles and maybe commercial vehicles.

# 6 Floyd said, on December 26th, 2005 at 10:28 am

Um–states already get registration fees (often based on vehicle value) and gas taxes on vehicles. So now they want to charge you for every mile you drive that car??? Isn’t that triple taxation?

I suspect that tracking every vehicle on the road in Washington State alone will overload any satellite designed to track those vehicles. Now multiply the load by roughly 50 (much worse in large states like California New York or Texas of course). Can you say serious computational complexity?

# 7 Dvorak reader said, on December 26th, 2005 at 12:12 pm

Complexity is the name of the game with this sort of stuff. It reminds me of the old Star Wars stuff (the gov’t. version not Hollywood).

ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY
March 23, 1983
“The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend against aggression — to preserve freedom and peace.” Ronald Reagan

Things change. Now we are an aggressor willing to try anything and everything to prevent aggression at any cost. Our only purpose — one all people share — is to search for ways to reduce the danger of terrorism. It won’t happen by tracking traffic, that’s what we have state troopers for. Buy more helicopters and hire more state troopers. They are the last line of defense and you can’t replace them with some camera-server-algorithm fantasy thought up by the U.S. DOT consultants or some university researchers. They can’t even afford 2 troopers in one patrol car in our state and now they are wasting billions of dollars on some pipe dream. Totally corrupt and deadly in the name of total information awareness. All you need to be aware of is a small area located between two ears, behind two eyes.

# 8 BL said, on December 26th, 2005 at 12:42 pm

This will not be by satellite. I guess they would use one of the wireless networks (like the cell phone networks).

Why not put RFID in everyone clothes (non-optional accessory), and tax each person every time he or she leaves home?

What I don’t understand is why the poor don’t yell about these types of taxes, as these fees tend towards the regressive end of the scale. I can see as day when the rich no longer pay any tax, you know, to foster trickle down (heavy emphasis on trick).

# 9 Dvorak reader said, on December 26th, 2005 at 1:07 pm

Sorry, I meant camera-server-algorithm-wireless fantasy. You can’t leave the wireless wiz kids out of the Mod Squad. If it isn’t totally wireless, it isn’t 3G or Web 2.0ish enough and won’t work with the total information awareness software that will guard the country. You can wear an aluminum foil hat to block the wireless mind control signals.

# 10 Floyd said, on December 26th, 2005 at 1:13 pm

BL: Cell towers won’t work in Western states–too many areas which don’t have coverage. Poor don’t yell because they’re less informed than the middle class and rich.

Of course the tax is regressive. It’s considered a way to tax fuel efficient vehicles, because they get better mileage than gas guzzlers and so get a tax break. No sense to this tax, as efficient vehicles don’t damage the roads as much as big ones.

IIRC RFID has a limited detectible range, maybe a couple of feet, thank goodness.

# 11 Janey James said, on December 26th, 2005 at 2:02 pm

I’m amazed that a country that toppled the idea of dollars being turned into coins would tolerate this even in a PR survey! I really thought Americans had more guts!

# 12 robert john said, on December 26th, 2005 at 3:08 pm

I heard the government wants to put a tracking system in our toilets; everytime t the toilet seat goes up, the tracking system is activated. They originally wanted to put a camera in there but the liberals in Congress nixed that. Sounds a little over the top but hey; we need to do everything we can to fight terrorism.

# 13 BL said, on December 26th, 2005 at 7:11 pm

Floyd – How about putting RFID in your shoe, and you would walk over a pressure-sensitive mat that reads the signal. But if you step on the mat without a valid RFID signal, the ALARM rings out… I’m giving away too much…ug

# 14 BOB G said, on December 27th, 2005 at 12:21 am

Most poor folk have a lot more to worry them then if the goverment knows they are going to walmart. Also I see this helping create a lot of jobs. yea thats it jobs.

# 15 Dvorak reader said, on December 27th, 2005 at 5:14 am

Follow me to Walmart bumper stickers for all the wage slavers out there might be a good idea. No computer needed. My Truck Drives Itself To Walmart. Always cheap stuff and they got a Mickey D’s for my fat assed pig old lady. We got a bag of Snickers bars for two bucks.

# 16 garym said, on December 27th, 2005 at 9:34 am

I think this is a serious affront to our civil liberties. I served 22 years in the Air Force protecting American liberties, and there is no way in hell I would stand up to losing them to a government beauracrosy.

This isn’t about use taxes, road taxes or anything else. It is a way for the government to track its citizens to spy on them in case they even think about doing something illegal.

I live in Washington state and we already pay the nation’s third highest gasoline taxes and our vehicle taxes just changed from a vehicle value-based tax to a vehicle weight-based tax. Those are our use fees for using the public roadways. We also pay extra sales taxes to support public transportation and a use tax for toll roads and bridges. We pay more than enough taxes to support the crappy roads in this state and none of that money is going into maintaining them, this tax won’t either.

This is a completely corrupt use of technology and a serious violation of privacy.

And, Bob, this will not create jobs. The state will use the in-place vehicle emmissions stations to install the GPS tracking device (and of course, charge the vehicle owner a fee for the device and labor to install it), use currently available satelites/towers to read the signals and put the current government database managers to use to build the application to track the vehicles. Where is the added employment in that?

Gary

# 17 Chris said, on December 27th, 2005 at 9:35 am

This makes me want to think twice about buying new cars in the future. Last thing I want is another way for Big Brother to know my every move. Aside from taxing road usage, which I think is retarded anyways cause I like to do a lot of driving, I don’t think I would feel safer knowing that my every location is being monitored. As much as I don’t like paying ungodly amounts of money to fill up my gas tank, maybe they should add the tax to gas prices and use that to cover road costs. It would seem that people who fill up more are driving more anyways.

# 18 John Wofford said, on December 27th, 2005 at 8:47 pm

The government can do anything they want to the American public, so long as they don’t screw up TV. And I agree that such a move would be oppresive in the extreme, predatory in nature and an indicator of just how low our representive’s (leeches?) opinions are of the folks that elected them, although I’m beginning to suspect the whole election hooha is a scam.
But long haul truckers are required to track every mile traveled through every state, every gallon purchased and then each quarter they must pay their base jurisdiction for the miles they operated in each state where they didn’t buy enough fuel to pay the taxes. Furthermore, there has been a running battle the last few years over the whole on board electronic tracking issue.
So now the government wants to tax privately owned vehicles the same way? My question is: When will the ravening beast of government become sated? How much longer will we continue to feed these clowns? Our social security taxes don’t go to the old folks, our road use taxes don’t go to fix the highways and what in the name of ten hells happens to all that money we send these people every year?

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