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In California, our toll transponders (FasTrak) are spuriously read at the LAX airport, merely for tracking reasons, not for billing. Interesting reverse-engineering of FasTrak transponders in 2008: http://rdist.root.org/2008/08/07/fastrak-talk-summary-and-sl...
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Just to clarify, this is not an intentional design feature. Any reciever is necessarily a transmitter due to the physics itself. The UK has been using this for a while to crack down on TV liscences.
I'm skeptical about the License Van thing... "BBC admits that TV detector vans only work because Britons believe they do" http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/31/bbc-admits-that-tv-...
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Why are you against having your car tracked? You're in public, aren't you? Why do you think you have a right to privacy in public?
Don't be a idiot. You should know as well as anyone that simply "being in public" actually preserves a large amount of privacy and anonymity. Consider, for, instance, what would happen if any of the countless people you pass by daily decided to follow your every step, stalking you, recording everything you say and do, waiting for you in the street when you got home, then relentlessly pursuing you again when you leave…
I'm pretty sure what you just described there is exactly what paparazzi do. I don't believe any have been arrested for doing that. (Mind you, if they do get arrested, it is usually for something else.)
In California, our toll transponders (FasTrak) are spuriously read at the LAX airport, merely for tracking reasons, not for billing. Interesting reverse-engineering of FasTrak transponders in 2008: http://rdist.root.org/2008/08/07/fastrak-talk-summary-and-sl...
By the way, in addition to LAX, this also happens when you're looping around San Jose Mineta airport (SJC). The airport says that it's to track taxis, limos, and shuttles: http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_14885277
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Why are you against having your car tracked? You're in public, aren't you? Why do you think you have a right to privacy in public?
What kind of stuff do you buy at stores? Mind if I have a look? I mean, you're in public when you buy the stuff. Please post your checking account and credit card statements in the reply. Thanks.
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The reason they link a tag to a car is because fees vary by vehicle type (number of axles). If the tags weren't linked to a vehicle, a commercial truck driver could simply buy a tag for a car and pay a whole lot less in tolls.
No, they couldn't because it would be immediately obvious from the camera footage. Photos are always taken, even when a tag is registered.
In California, our toll transponders (FasTrak) are spuriously read at the LAX airport, merely for tracking reasons, not for billing. Interesting reverse-engineering of FasTrak transponders in 2008: http://rdist.root.org/2008/08/07/fastrak-talk-summary-and-sl...
It's worth surfacing the fact that California's FasTrak transponders beep when they are being read (although it certainly might be possible for the beep to be suppressed). By the way, in addition to LAX, this also happens when you're looping around San Jose Mineta airport (SJC). The airport says that it's to track taxis, limos, and shuttles: http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_14885277
I have to disagree with those who say this isn't news. It was news to me and will, I believe, be news to most others as well. The only time before this that I heard about using EZ pass for anything other than tolls was a few years ago when I read about some feasibility work on the concept of traffic flow optimization being done around Ithaca, NY. I do wonder why they haven't been used yet to track speeding violations…
Speeding cameras and other ways to ticket people automatically are problematic in the US. See, in Europe, the ticket can be given to the owner of the car. The problem is simple: take a picture of the license plate, look up the owner, send ticket. In the US, the law says that the only person that gets the ticket is the driver which != owner in a lot of cases. Because of this, places that have speeding cameras have to…
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But nobody looks at that footage 99% of the time. Reolistically the only way to do prepaid tags it to bill the maximum amount as truckers would happily say use a car the first time and then use the rest of the cash on the semi unless they checked every time.
They could sell you a prepaid tag, and you could get change back or reconcile its unpaid balance when you returned it. This could all be accomplished at a vending machine, or at a car-rental counter, or any number of other places. >But nobody looks at that footage 99% of the time. A truck can be trivially detected and distinguished from a car. The S/N of the tag detected can then have the proper amount deducted. Or j…
Edit: Also, all it takes is a picture of your license plate as you go through a toll an any anonymity is gone which makes anon EZ passes somewhat silly.
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What kind of stuff do you buy at stores? Mind if I have a look? I mean, you're in public when you buy the stuff. Please post your checking account and credit card statements in the reply. Thanks.
Right. Because some computer somewhere knowing that yesterday I drove 90mph on the I-5 from LA to San Diego is exactly the same as you knowing my credit card number. Got it.