Friday, May 27, 2011

Nobody ever listens to me, and its starting to hack me off.

Government tracking people is a regular feature on this blog.  I post stuff about ubiquitous surveillance all the time.  People seem to think I'm some kind of nut with this stuff.  To be fair, that thing with the lithium in the water does seem like a crazy nutcase conspiracy theory.  Except it didn't come out of the UFO News, it came out of the medical literature, New Scientist and the BBC.

Well kids, here's ANOTHER one.  The USA is going to propose mandatory full-up, airliner style Black Boxes in your car.

The U.S. Transportation Department said today it will propose making vehicle "black boxes" mandatory in all vehicles by the end of the year.

The department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has long considered whether to make black boxes, officially called event data recorders, or EDRs, mandatory. They collect data about the seconds leading up to a crash and can help investigators determine the cause.

Yes, your car testifies against you in court. This is not a new thing.  All cars with EFI engines have data logging.  They vary as to what data gets logged and for how long, but they all have it.  Further more:

In August 2006, NHTSA issued a rule setting standards for EDR data collection.

The rule, which takes effect in the 2013 model year, standardizes the information EDRs collect and makes retrieving the data easier. Devices must record 15 data elements, including vehicle deceleration, in specific formats.

Well, gee.  They already have the Black Box thing laid on for 2013.  Good thing I bought my new car already. 
So then, what's this new "proposal"?  The article is a little vague, but it does say:
In May 2010, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade association GM, Ford, Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota and eight other automakers, endorsed making EDRs mandatory in all vehicles, but expressed concerns that some in Congress wanted more elaborate and expensive ones than are available.
Thanks Big Three for having our back like that.  "Spying is ok but jeeze, don't make us spend too much money!" They should get the good citizenship award.

But what would "more elaborate and expensive" look like?  The one they have right now probably costs ten bucks.  But if you take a Wii remote and stick a 32 gig flash drive on it, the thing will remember every tiny motion your car makes.  It will remember it for -years-.  If you add a GPS, it can remember everywhere you've ever been.  If you add a cell phone,  it can phone home with the data. That could all be done on one chip for probably fifty or sixty bucks.

Android phones and IPhones already do this

The Feds have surveillance envy.  So they are going to wire your car. 
Additionally, if the car can phone them, they can phone it.  Just think OnStar.  Only mandatory.  Oh, and they can use it to TAX YOU. Pay by the mile, ring a bell?

Thought experiment, lets pretend Barry wins in 2012 and the Dems can continue with their agenda.  What does America look like by 2016?

-Government follows your every move from your cell phone and your car, plus cameras -everywhere-. Most likely there will be a Central Surveilance Directorate or some other alphabet soup acronym that spells "We can seeeee you!"
-Government reads -all- your mail and watches you surf, but openly.  There may be a "We can seeeee you!" icon flashing on your screen at all times.  They also log keystrokes and examine your hard drive..
-TSA will be groping you at the airport... and the train station, the bus station, the gas station, the mall, the baseball game and the senior prom. TSA agents will not resemble Hooters waitresses in any way.
-Carbon tax, collected at pay-by-the-mile variable rates based on traffic congestion, time of day, number of people in the car, season, and route, comes directly out of your bank account daily.  SUVs pay double, of course.
-Illegal parking will be automatically billed to your bank account because they know where your car is.
-All traffic infractions will be automatically billed to your bank account because again, they know where your car is, how fast its going, if you are following too close, if you signaled that lane change, blew that stoplight, came to a complete dead stop at that stop sign...
-but don't worry if you get arrested because prisoners in jail will be released "by accident" every week,
-but that might be bad because you will not have a gun.
-Your income tax rate will be 62% or more,
-but that's ok because you will not have a job (unless you are a postal worker)
-and you won't have a car or a phone because of double or even tripple dip recession ,
-and your house won't be worth anything.
-But you will feel good about it all because of the lithium in the water supply.

That is The Official Un-Official Semi-Secret Democrat Plan. For real.

Awesome eh?  And that's just the stuff that's made the news lately.
This concludes today's Happy Thoughts round up. Be sure to tell your friends.  Often. And loudly.  And buy some wheel weights.

The Drugged And Happy About It Phantom

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