Big Brother in Our Midst

Politicians are making laws to fill the lack of revenue, and gps is one way for them to know where you are at all times. This is a toll to collect revenue the easy way.
Their pensions are in jeopardy that`s why they pass laws without consulting the people.
I hope we don't have to be chipped to pay for the air we breath and the big corporations are polluting without regards of human life.
There are many pressing situations that deserve more attention but gps is much easier to deal with.

You asked for it so here it is.

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/08/03/daily43-Precy...

I'll drive my SUV with a big 25 gallon tank to fill up. Get home siphon gas from SUV to econo car. When econo car needs gas drive SUV to refill tank. SUV has two miles on it since last fill very little tax paid. Come home again siphon gas to econo car again. The SUV's sole purpose in life is to tow the boat and get me to work in winter. There is an Idea tow boat to fill it's tanks as well. I can get twice as much gas only driving two miles.

There will be so many way to beat this Mileage tax it wont be funny.

The only way to do, at least her in PA, is to record mileage at yearly inspection and charge taxes then. Oh wait Odometer has not worked in SUV in years. Oh well there goes that idea.

about mileage taxes.

Heck we ALREADY pay mileage taxes. They're included in every gallon (or liter) of fuel we purchase.

Or has no one noticed?

So if we're not buying enough fuel, they'll just increase the taxes so that we pay double what we do now . . . .

Maybe if you paid 100% you'd be twice as happy!!

I actually searched before beginning a new thread & see that this one has about played out. The boiling frogs analogy has concerned me for a long time. Just like air bags, I believe it would be simple to legislate GPS receivers in every car - these would record your every move. Like smoke detectors on airliners, there would be a penalty for tampering with them. You would be taxed for miles/hours driven and fined for exceeding the speed limit (each and every instance). My GPS has an FM transmitter - if properly set up, I'm sure a police officer driving by could query my GPS database. This has so much potential for generating revenue, I don't see how the politicans can resist (and it'll be in the name of "public safety"). It's only a matter of time. Paranoid?? Well, maybe a little.

I heard they were trying to do that with EZPASSS

I heard that was striken down because EZPass is voluntary, is only used on toll roads, and they don't want to dissuade people from using EZPass; but, I also heard that EZPASS has been used to place a vehicle (the EZPass transmitter presumed to be in a certain vehicle) in the proximity of seriuos crimes. Bottomline - the same logic applies to both EZPass & GPS - when it's perceived to be in the government's interest and they can get away with it . . . The big question is - do you trust the government?

Just remember the government is not your friend. That is why there is a second amendment.

Fitting that you should mention that, I considered putting it in my post but didn't want to be (too) political.

The US is broke. They're always looking for more ways to get money from us.

That's ridiculous...you know they have medicine that can help you with paranoia.

Yeah, but I'm afraid it'll give me the flu.

And some people can't see the obvious even if it spits in their face. They just insist it's raining.

And if somebody got such hard time to figure out where it's all going there is the future.

If somebody has any doubts:
"The United Arab Emirates government will monitor, track, tax and ticket every driver with a mandatory black box"
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/10/1052.asp
Let's bet how fast it will come to US and EU.

"Noise cameras become the latest ticketing technology deployed against motorists in New South Wales, Australia"
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/25/2572.asp

"Tire tread measuring system promises to mail tickets to motorists for tire tread that is a fraction of an inch too short"
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/24/2463.asp

"European Union spends $10 million to develop advanced system to track motorists and issue tickets for minor infractions"
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2620.asp
But this one is introduced in US as well: "In documents provided to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, ATS also explained it has developed automated tailgating tickets as a feature that can soon be added to existing speed camera programs"
and:
"The cities of Hanover Park, Oak Forest and Streamwood, Illinois last month announced they would deploy red light cameras with an "amber alert" feature provided by the Dutch company, Gatso. This feature allows every passing vehicle to be photographed, identified and tracked. Complete travel histories for all motorists could be stored in a database so that allows police and other officials could keep track of any individuals of interest"

"Emissions spy camera program returns to Southern California, strengthened by a 2004 authorizing law"
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/19/1941.asp
No tickets on this one yet, but hey, they just starting, give them some time.

Maybe if the government would quit funding there own private projects with our tax money the government would not be broke. Now to have a POI that could help us avoid these tax funded private programs.

This emission spy camera program in Southern California is worrisome. You will be mailed notices and potentially tickets based upon "estimates" of your emissions from camera installed on the roadways???

If you think the GPS issue is big brother, wait until we have Obamacare and the government will have reason to dictate all aspects of your behavior, at least that is what some think. Your health is impacted by how you drive, eat, and almost everything you do.

You don't need to avoid all OnStar vehicles to avoid the prying eyes of big brother. The older OnStar systems used analog cellular technology, and are no longer eligible for OnStar services. The next batch were analog/digital-ready, and can't sign up without an upgrade to the cell hardware. And for the truly paranoid, the cell hardware can be removed completely, so no data can be sent from the vehicle. But at that point, you need to make sure you're not using a credit or atm card, or a cell phone, or ez pass, or a mobil speedpass type device, or....

The words "half empty" are actually a misnomer.. in that the definition of "empty" is: containing nothing; having, or containing, no contents.

This being the case, it is impossible to have half of nothing. Either the glass has contents in it (and I'm not talking about air), or it doesn't.

Now if you look at it from THAT perspective then the glass is always full, no matter if it's only occupied by 25% liquid.. because the other 75% is air.

Nuvi1300WTGPS

Nuvi1300WTGPS@Gmail.com

Well, since it's used as a metaphor, it actually depends on whether you focus on the positive or negative aspects of an issue.

In some situations, for example, the camera can vindicate someone regarding the use of excessive force as appears to be the case in at least two instances recently in Minneapolis.

In the positive sense, the camera acts as an objective observer in situations involving individuals, thus serving as a tool to keep people accountable otherwise, it's one person's word against another.

So, it's not such a simple matter as yea or neh sometimes.

It should probably be "Is the glass half way to empty, or half way to full?

I generally agree with your sentiment. Personally, I've been trying to formulate an informed opinion on technology without sounding like a Neo-Luddite.

Technology in person's opinion can be useful or useless. And that's it. I don't have problem with progress in technology but with use that technology is being put to. If you need very clear example of it here it goes:
Personally I think that introduction of railroads was a big success. It make possible to move big quantities of cargo and big number of people in short time for much smaller cost than before. And it was in my opinion very good technological progress.
But then came nazis and said, that this future of moving big number of people cheaply from place to place can be use to kill millions of people. And they did it.
So even as I think that railroads are good invention I NEVER agree that every use of it is great and just.
This same is with thinks we discuss above. Even if technology can be impressive you should ask yourself if use that technology is being put to is impressive as well. I think it is not. And that is bottom line of my post. I don't complain about technology but about the way it is being use by government.

Objects and things such as money are amoral in themselves. It's only when applied to uses under the direction of human intention that they take on a moral dimension. But then, the larger questions become, "What is good?" and "In what sense, is it good?"

One way to answer that question would be to examine how that object affects the power relationship. For instance, take the computer (which can be seen as essentially a processor and database that functions as an interface). A user can have ready access to information thus giving him a portion of power. [One could go as far as comparing the influence of the Internet to that of the printing presses during the Enlightenment.] Conversely, the computer can be used to control individuals, to go back to your Nazi example, through the compilation of a database of individuals who may be potentially troublesome to the State.

So, in the face of technological onslaught, it seems that wisdom (whatever that is) is the antidote and law is the means of insuring justice.

If you are rooted firmly in the American tradition of the assumption of natural rights, then the idea of liberty is your guiding principle.