"Smart Roads" for toll collection and traffic logging

[northrop@netcom.com (Scott Northrop)]

Here in Seattle there is a proposal to turn a couple of traffic chokepoints
into toll roads.  Because a toll plaza would back things up even worse, I'm
guessing they'll look to an automated system that will let you pay without
leaving your car.  This is established tech -- a nifty article about it showed
up in _Electronic Design_ last month.

The downside is that it'll not be designed with privacy in mind at all, and
will eventually have this pesky database of who went by the toll booth and
when.  We all know that old databases never die, they just get put on tape and
stuffed in a box, to wait for someone with a curious streak to come by.  This
is a well-established problem with naiive designs of automated toll plazas,
and I am looking for examples of things that could be done with this database
by someone with ill intent, or could be done with the toll system itself if it
got to be more widespread.

- Obviously, if your car is talking to the road all the time, speeding tickets
are a gimme.

- You might be targeted for "further investigation" if you happen to drive by
the wrong part of town.  Gotta step up the heat on that war on drugs, ya know.

I can come up with all sorts of ways to detect people from committing crimes
(and don't really need those examples -- folks might think I *want* a Big
Brother Highway!), but I'm curious what peoples' fears are about what this
could mean to innocent folks, Joe Sixpack and his pals.  There is a meeting in
a few days where public comment on the toll road idea is being solicited, and
I want to have some really compelling horror stories with which to capture
peoples' imaginations about what a Big Brother Highway could mean.

I want to scare people, but I want to scare 'em with something believable.

If there's an archive that mentions anything like this, please point it out in
private mail.  I'll summarize what I get to the list, and also make that
document available on the web, if anything interesting comes up.

Thanks!

Scott


-- 
Scott Northrop  (206)559-9878   northrop@netcom.com, northrop@mccaw.com
      Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules.
      Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt.
                                     -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Book IV