News Will British Vehicle Tracking Lead to Higher Taxes for Drivers?

[dduardo]

I'll just let you guys read the article:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece

 

[Evo]

They're spending millions of dollars to track license plates? So, anyone that doesn't want to be tracked (the people they want to track) will obscure their plates, use stolen plates or manufacture bogus plates.

"the national data centre will also check whether each vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test certificate."

Holy cr@p.

 

[dduardo]

Alibis are going to be a thing of the past. The police won't have to ask because they already know where you've been.

And who needs a trial when they got everything on tape. Just give out the punishment on the spot like Judge Dred.

 

[Anttech]

Youd be amazed at the amount o CCTV in the UK...

 

[turbo]

Here comes a booming lucrative industry for counterfeiters! Say you have a red Mercedes of a certain model and year. The counterfeiter pulls up a list of tag numbers for similar cars and runs you off a few sets (for a price, of course). When you plan to do things you want kept secret, you put on a set of fake tags and Bingo! you're someone else. I expect that the fines for operating with fake tags are going to skyrocket, though, as the cops and the courts catch on.

 

[dduardo]

turbo-1, then the next step will be real-time facial recongition and the government will then track the people that you hang around with. What then? You need to start wearing masks?

At what point do we stop?

 

[turbo]

What's next? If Big Brother has his way (Orwell was a genius!) the Proles will be lined up to have microchips imbedded in them, just like people do to their pets. Every time you pass through a door or a street corner or any other place a scanner can be located, you're logged.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

turbo-1, then the next step will be real-time facial recongition and the government will then track the people that you hang around with. What then? You need to start wearing masks?

At what point do we stop?

They tried this already. It didn't work very well. It'll probably be back online again as soon as they get it working properly.

 

[Curious3141]

There was a recent episode of Fifth Gear (on TV five in the UK) that had a segment on license plate theft, the fastest growing car theft scam of late. Now I know why this is becoming such an issue.

FWIW, I have no problem with the authorities monitoring and logging each and every car journey. One shouldn't have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" on the public road, so what's the need for secrecy ? If they find utility in enhancing security and solving crime, more power to them. The only people worried about this would be those with something to hide - too bad for them. If there's a case against them in court, truth will out. There is a constitutional right to privacy, but no constitutional right to lie under oath in court.

Note that this is markedly different from phonetapping, email snooping or videotaping someone at home. These are all activities in which one should have a "reasonable expectation of privacy". So unauthorised monitoring in these settings should still be outlawed. But there's no cause to curb monitoring when you're out on the streets.

 

[turbo]

FWIW, I have no problem with the authorities monitoring and logging each and every car journey. One shouldn't have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" on the public road, so what's the need for secrecy ? If they find utility in enhancing security and solving crime, more power to them. The only people worried about this would be those with something to hide - too bad for them. If there's a case against them in court, truth will out. There is a constitutional right to privacy, but no constitutional right to lie under oath in court.

Don't be so quick to dismiss this record-keeping as harmless. Information is not automatically neutral "if you have nothing to hide", because unscrupulous people can find ways to use seemingly innocuous information for their own personal, financial, or political gain. Just think how Joe McCarthy would love to have had access to logs of who went where and when, and how Nixon would have fun with this info and applied it to his "enemies list". I especially would not want the neo-conservatives who control the US government (or the wealthy special interest groups who control them) to have access to such a pool of data.

 

[Spin_Network]

Don't be so quick to dismiss this record-keeping as harmless. Information is not automatically neutral "if you have nothing to hide", because unscrupulous people can find ways to use seemingly innocuous information for their own personal, financial, or political gain. Just think how Joe McCarthy would love to have had access to logs of who went where and when, and how Nixon would have fun with this info and applied it to his "enemies list". I especially would not want the neo-conservatives who control the US government (or the wealthy special interest groups who control them) to have access to such a pool of data.

To true, just look here:https://www.physicsforums.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=864991

Google for instance are gathering a wealth of info right as we speak, quite cheap here on PF, only a "dollar" squirt !

Its what you do with the information that is important:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4556132.stm

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

FWIW, I have no problem with the authorities monitoring and logging each and every car journey.

Until you live in CA and they want find ways to tax you based on your miliage and what roads you travel.
That has more to do with the taxs than the monitoring ofcourse.

 

[Pengwuino]

Doesn't Germany also have something like this? Except its sort of a "black box" installed on every car that records where you go and how fsat you go so if you're ever pulled over, they read hte data to see if you have broken any laws in the past like speeding.

 

[Pengwuino]

Until you live in CA and they want find ways to tax you based on your miliage and what roads you travel.
That has more to do with the taxs than the monitoring ofcourse.

Yah, can't wait until the fanatical liberals decide I need to pay $1 for every mile I'm given the "opportunity" to drive.

 

[Skyhunter]

Yah, can't wait until the fanatical liberals decide I need to pay $1 for every mile I'm given the "opportunity" to drive.

Won't bother me, as long as it is only the selfish concervatives that must pay it.