I brought this up in a comment the other day. It’s out there, folks! It’s not so much that I object to a tax on miles driven; it’s one way to pay for road projects that the gasoline tax isn’t covering.
What I object to is the transponders that will send back location data to the state.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100359287
I’m not a terrorist or a criminal, but I do not want government able to track my movements. It’s wrong! And it’s dangerous, because people may surmise things from that data that simply isn’t true and use it in prosecutions of law-abiding American citizens. We don’t think that can happen here, but it can. It used to be against the law for the government to monitor your communications without a warrant. It’s not anymore. It used to be against the law for law enforcement to trick you into committing a crime. It’s not anymore. Once the information is available on a government data base, it will be used. It’s as simple and as unconstitutional as that. Yes, many cell phones currently track location as well. That’s not a reason to accept this. In fact, it’s a good reason to disable the GPS on your phone.
If you believe Alex Jones, the govt. has the ability to secretly turn your cell phone on and use it as a listening device where ever you are.
I’m not sure that I believe Alex Jones, but I wouldn’t put it past the FBI et al to be listening in on some people. The Patriot Act has given them WAY too much unchecked power.
I recently left the employ of community mental health and I ran into a schizophrenic former client the other day. He’s crazy, but as I’ve said, he’s not stupid. He button-holed me for a while at the grocery store, talking about his paranoid theory that Adam Lanza had been manipulated into committing the Sandy Hook massacre. I don’t believe the client any more than I believe Alex Jones. The only difference between a schizophrenic and a conspiracy theorist is that the latter gets a radio show, Except my pastor’s son was sentenced last week to 25 years for some pretty flimsy charges and his case involved an FBI informant ginning him and friends up into saying things that were venting to a reasonable person, but treason to the feds. So, maybe the client is right and maybe Alex Jones is too. I know for certain the technology exists to track our cars. That’s all over the transportation trade papers.
I have a GPS on my car, and was worried that Uncle Sugar was able to track (not that they want to watch me going from my house to my mom’s house and the Hy-Vee store). My compu-geek Patient Husband tells me that they do not track that information (stored in the car) but they could download from the car.
I’ll have to ask about the cell phone.
Maybe it’s just me, but watching the Piers Morgan/Alex Jones exchange, Alex was not the creepy freaking fanatic in that pair.
Currently the GOVERNMENT cannot track your car’s GPS. However, according to the transportation trade papers, they could. We’d all have to go in and have a GPS operating system upgrade. It would be required when we renewed our registration — very similar to the way they used to have Fairbanksans get our emissions systems checked every two years. Don’t do it, you can’t renew your registration.
It’s not being done yet, but expect it to show up sometime within the next four years in a state like California that has a lot of electric cars. From there, it will gradually spread to other states. Or this president might just sign an Executive Order to get it done.