Author Topic: Britain to be the first country to monitor every car journey (Read 1199 times)

Mickey1992 · « **Reply #15 on:** December 22, 2005, 11:02:16 AM »

How about a system described above but one that only looked for certain license plates? Imagine a database of every stolen car, and the system would only keep data on those particular cars. Imagine the next amber alert and the suspect's licence plate is entered into the database and the car is spotted within an hour.

The Ohio Highway Patrol did a trial of a similar system last year.

http://www.remingtonelsag.com/press_02.htm

Dowding · « **Reply #16 on:** December 22, 2005, 11:22:10 AM »

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Britain has already come to the realization that it's subjects cannot be trusted. They must therefore be monitored constantly lest they get any ideas to do anything not considered proper by the authorities. If they start to drive too far or to areas they should not be allowed near they can be apprehended later at the governments pleasure. After all, the subjects are there merely to provide for the states welfare. Long live the State.

Troll.

Maverick · « **Reply #17 on:** December 22, 2005, 11:43:05 AM »

No dowding, it's sarcasm. It may, in fact, be rather accurate but it is still sarcasm.

Trolls live under bridges and help in monitoring traffic for unauthorized motor vehicle trips.

USHilDvl · « **Reply #18 on:** December 22, 2005, 11:46:56 AM »

Insidious and dangerous...the Big Brother analogy is no exaggeration here, IMO. How do the Brits on the street feel? I'm a little surpried that I don't perceive more of an outcry (but I may just not have been paying attention, too)

This seems to go a lot farther even than living under a camera 24/7 in the larger cities (yes, I know I exaggerate a bit here, but not too far, I think)

I can't buy the security arguement either. If the authorities suspect a person of something, there are already legally supervised means to identify and track a person's comings and goings, yes?

Mora: Not quite right. Licenses and registrations really don't track a persons movements, associates or business. Licenses and registrations are means by which our state governments assures that vehicles are bought and sold legally, that ownership is properly recorded and that vehicles are properly maintained and safe on the road. Oh, yeah...I almost forgot...they are also an excellent source of tax revenue!

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 22, 2005, 11:58:26 AM »

What a wonderfully Stupid idea.

Better them then us though.

Dowding · « **Reply #20 on:** December 22, 2005, 12:31:16 PM »

Sarcasm and troll like behaviour are not mutually exclusive.

superpug1 · « **Reply #21 on:** December 22, 2005, 12:35:45 PM »

haha, maybe its time to invest in one of those random number generator LCD license plates:noid

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 22, 2005, 12:43:17 PM »

Next thing you know they are going to force car makers to put governers on cars so you can't speed.

I bet they will find a way to ticket you through the mail too.

Ripsnort · « **Reply #23 on:** December 22, 2005, 01:53:42 PM »

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Originally posted by GtoRA2
Next thing you know they are going to force car makers to put governers on cars so you can't speed.

My BMW came limited to 125 mph, per federal standards. Had to buy a chip to remove the govnor so it can do 155.

Octavius · « **Reply #24 on:** December 22, 2005, 01:56:43 PM »

So... are any brit citizens pissed? Any members of parliament getting flooded with letters/emails?

Ripsnort · « **Reply #25 on:** December 22, 2005, 02:00:38 PM »

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Originally posted by Octavius
So... are any brit citizens pissed? Any members of parliament getting flooded with letters/emails?

I'm sure a certain UK poster will be along any moment and straighten us all out how wasteful we are and how this is a good thing for Britain, because the average UK citizen can't drive as well as he.....

tce2506 · « **Reply #26 on:** December 22, 2005, 02:21:06 PM »

Camera's, who cares? They can already pull any of that info right out of your car's black box. Old news link from 2004.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141048,00.html

Tuomio · « **Reply #27 on:** December 22, 2005, 02:26:55 PM »

Key problem is the digital database. It doesent matter much if you have gazillion minutes of videotapes from every street corner. The videotapes wont survey anything. You walking past them is like needle in world record haystack, but binary indexed by the names of bypassers is like treebranch in a needlestack.

Digital databases hold enormous powers for abusers. Sadly, there is no stopping to this, it wont take long 'till computers can flawlessly pinpoint inviduals by taking images of their faces. Next logical step, because we can, we must. I cant think of any reason, why government should be allowed to collect these kinds of databases. I think it could be unconstitutional thruout the western world, but whos gonna try them? Of course such system could be beneficial, but that is not the case.

mora · « **Reply #28 on:** December 22, 2005, 02:52:36 PM »

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Originally posted by Maverick
Mora,

Wrong assumption there. Your license and registration do not provide day to day monitoring of where and when you go somewhere.

They could have done it manually before, but they haven't done it in a large scale for obvious reasons. So IMO there's no big difference, at least from the legal perspective. I doubt it's illegal to keep a database, if the information is collected by legal means. Installing transponders would be another matter entirely.

Again I don't like this at all. It has just been obvious for a long time that this kind of monitoring will become reality, and I don't understand the shock reaction here. This kind of "development" is inevitable in a democratic society. Most people want security above all, even if it's just perceived, and don't give a crap about their privacy.

mora · « **Reply #29 on:** December 22, 2005, 03:08:41 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by GtoRA2
Next thing you know they are going to force car makers to put governers on cars so you can't speed.

I bet they will find a way to ticket you through the mail too.

Both of those things are a reality here. Trucks above certain weight have 55 mph governors(about to be lowered to 50 mph, because of one single accident), and the roadsides have automatic cameras. The fines are addressed to the owner of the vehicle... They'd love nothing more than to put governors on all vehicles, and it will most likely happen with the help of the EU in less than 10 years.