The SF Bay area MTC is planning on using toll-taking transponders to
track drivers on non-toll roads.
[NYT], [BATN], Adam Clymer, New York Times, 2002 August 26.
Phil Agre who was quoted in the Times story responds.
This alternate use of toll-transponders is harly a novel idea:
The local toll authorities are going to install an AVI system at
existing toll points, namely the bridges that link up New Jersey and Brooklyn
to Staten Island. These readers will identify vehicles that are participating
in the AVI system and bill them for using the bridge.
TRANSCOM wants to install more AVI readers every few along the
highways feeding the bridges. Then they want to take the vehicle ID's from the
bridges and notice when they encounter the same vehicle ID's at various points
along the highways. Their computer will then be able to calculate the average
speed of the tagged vehicles and set off an alarm if the average speed is below
some threshold, indicating that there is a traffic incident of some kind
slowing things down. [comp.risks]
And the Times needs a fact checker:
The Golden Gate Bridge toll is a $3, not $2.
The tolls are charged in only one direction (typically towards San Francisco),
so recording direction for toll-taking reasons is moot:
from FasTrak itself, which sends customers monthly statements saying
which bridges they have crossed, with the date, time and direction of
travel.
Back on the topic of privacy, obviously assurances that
We're not going to comply with the California Highway Patrol if for
some reason they ask us to change the policies.
could me more convincing if there were significant penalties for
requesting the info, (and there were assurances that lawful orders to
reveal such info would also be denied).
More info in the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune: 1, 2,
and AP Wire.