States Consider GPS Tracking Cars to Levy 'Fairer' Gas Tax

At least 18 states are now considering bills to do just this, and Oregon has initiated a pilot program. CBS News reports, "The Oregon pilot programs seeks to demonstrate whether a per-mile tax is a practical possibility. The state is finding 5,000 volunteers to pay 1.5-cents-per-mile tax instead of the 30 cents-per-gallon gas tax. Devices will report their mileage to the state.

Consider this: The programs being suggested or tested to track your mileage involve installing a GPS tracking device to determine not just how far you go, but which roads you use, how fast you go, and whether or not you're a "good" driver, i.e., how fast you come up to stops.

In addition to Oregon, California is considering a mileage "fee" plan as well. Here again, as The Los Angeles Times reports, "Millions of vehicles also would have to be equipped with odometer readers, smartphone applications or global positioning technology that would transmit data to state officials or a contractor, who would then bill owners for the miles traveled. Privacy advocates are especially concerned that — in this era of data mining and well-publicized credit card breaches — the technology could be used to learn not only how far people go, but when and where." (read more)

Vodafone: Governments Use Secret Cables to Tap Phones

"Government agencies are able to listen to phone conversations live and even track the location of citizens without warrants using secret cables connected directly to network equipment, admits Vodafone today."

The company said that secret wires have been connected to its network and those belonging to competitors, giving government agencies the ability to tap in to phone and broadband traffic. In many countries this is mandatory for all telecoms companies, it said.

The company Vodafone is releasing a "Law Enforcement Disclosure Report" which the company claims will "describe exactly how the governments it deals with are eavesdropping on citizens."

I don't know... I've pretty much accepted that all my communications can be listened to, sold, compromised, criticized ... Well, maybe not criticized.

My point is... what is the point?.. my point is I have zero expectation of privacy. Privacy, as we've known it, and, other than our thoughts, is on it's way to becoming something like a wrestling match prop. Privacy appeals and supposedly means something, but, in real terms it is as significant as a selfie.

Eric Posner: "The NSA’s Metadata Program Is Perfectly Constitutional"

"The other side is that criminals can use technology today in a way they could not in the past. There were no jihadi websites in 1979. It was harder for criminals to transfer money or communicate instructions across borders. Bomb-making directions were not available on the Web."

"There are also major differences in public attitudes about privacy. People can more easily find out things about each other today than in 1979, thanks to the Web, and so people now expect strangers—including potential friends, mates, and bosses—to know more about them today than they did in the past. People can also more easily share personal information about themselves, and rather than refrain from doing so in order to protect their privacy, they enthusiastically post photos and videos of themselves on Facebook and other social media sites. Thus, it is possible that people’s sense of privacy is also greatly altered, as if the whole country moved from a big city to a small town, trading in the benefits of anonymity and independence for the advantages of community and security."

I get the feeling were are not going to "recognize ourselves" in 10 years.

Salon via Instapundit's notice of professor Eric Posner's new blog

"How License-Plate Scanners Are Eroding Our Privacy"

"Here's a thought experiment: imagine that activists, concerned with official misconduct, install license-plate readers on private property to track the location of every car belonging to the police department or a politician and upload the locations to a public database. The result: a map of where the police go, and where they don't—along, perhaps, with politicians' visits to motels or strip clubs."

Read more: How License-Plate Scanners Are Eroding Our Privacy - Popular Mechanics
Written by Glenn Reynolds