Re: "Smart Roads" for toll collection and traffic logging

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Scott Northrop wrote:

> 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
...
> 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

No doubt the various cites and local governments can raise extra
revenue by selling the tracking data to the IRS for their new
"Compliance 2000" program, to FinCEN to see if suspicious travel
patterns are being engaged in, to the War on Some Drugs soldiers to
see if the car is deemed to be a drug carrier, and so on. Even better,
women seeking abortions, for example, could be denied access to the
toll roads that are known to lead to the evil abortionists! The
possibilities are endless.

All of this is old news, in that Brunner warned of ubiquitous
computers in "The Shockwave Rider," and Chaum explicity dealt with the
threat of position tracking in his proposal for digital, untraceable
cash.

Lucky Greene demonstrated at the last CP meeting a toll payment card
that uses Digicash.  About the size of a credit card, it handles the
payment but is unlinkable to driver or car ID.

Cities won't use this technology unless customers demand it. Of
course, cities don't view road users as customers who can take their
business elsewhere.

I don't expect very widespread use of digicash.

--Tim May


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