Big Brother

[Otto]

Drivers face road charge by satellite
Monthly bills for motorists in transport revolution
Joanna Walters, transport editor
Sunday February 24, 2002, The Observer

"All cars will be fitted with a 'big brother' satellite tracking meter to
charge drivers up to 45p a mile for every journey taken under radical plans
to slash congestion on British roads.
The scheme, proposed by the Government's independent transport advisers,
would see drivers handed monthly bills charging them for every single
journey.
In a landmark report to be given to Ministers tomorrow, the Commission for
Integrated Transport will recommend using existing Global Positioning System
satellites to track vehicles via electronic 'black boxes' fixed to the
dashboard of all vehicles.
The information recording the movements of motorists would be beamed back to
computers at the various highway authorities or to a private company
contracted to the Government - but with strict controls to protect privacy."
http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,656107,00.html

Sounds contradictory to me:
"strict controls to protect privacy" on controls to lift that privacy.

"The other day in the street I heard a city policeman in a police car
requesting over his loudspeaker that a civilian car blocking his way
move aside and let him past, all the while addressing the driver of
the car *personally, by name*. I was amazed atthis, though people I
tried to share it with only shrugged, assuming that of course the
driver's name (along with height, weight and date of birth) had been
obtained from the Motor Vehicle Department via satellite, as soon as
the offending car's license number had been tapped into the
terminal,-- so what?"
(TRP, Introduction to "Stone Junction", xi-xii)

Otto