So now Arnold wants to track every driver by satellite GPS. From the
LA Times:
So it was news this week when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- the bane of California car fees -- nominated Joan Borucki to lead the Department of Motor Vehicles. Borucki, the media quickly revealed, was on record as supporting a tax on driving. That's right -- a tax on every mile driven in the state! And it might be collected by tracking devices in cars or by spy satellites overhead!
Think its hyperbole? The article adds more below the fold.
Privacy advocates are right to fret about tracking systems in the hands of Big Brother. But these systems can be controlled so that they do not create a central registry of vehicles' whereabouts.
The problem with this supposition is that once government opens the door to something, it becomes virtually impossible to scale it back or keep it from creeping into more and more areas of life. Think of Social Security numbers as an example. At first the numbers were only to be used for Social Security. Now though, they are the foundation of identity theft. In any event, we should watch developments like these closely.