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Legislators
Consider Mandatory Tracking Chip for Your Car
(Alert for 8/3/04)
Summary:
Salivating legislators are considering an Oregon scheme to
mandate satellite tracking chips in all automobiles. These
chips would monitor where your cars are, when you drive
them, how much you drive them, and allow officials to tax
you on those miles — providing an innovative new way to
steal and spend your money. Give officials a piece of your
mind now (or your privacy later).
Topics:
1. Oregon
Bureaucrat Peddles Tracking Chip in Utah
2. Dumbing Utahns Down for
"Government Growth" Schemes
3. TAKE ACTION!
1. Oregon Bureaucrat Peddles Tracking Chip in Utah
During the July 14 legislative
interim meeting of the Transportation Planning Task Force,
James Whitty, with the Oregon Department of Transportation,
eagerly attempted to promote a scheme approved by an Oregon
task force: Install Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)
tracking chips in all cars.
Source: "Shrinking
gas tax revenues pose problem: Legislators pondering per-mile
tax as alternative," Lisa Roskelley, Ogden Standard
Examiner, Jul. 28, 2004.
The chip would record and store
mileage figures and interact with the gas pump to add on a
mileage tax based upon whatever criteria the legislature
establishes. It could also track the location of a car in real
time — and other computers could very easily use that data to
track the use of that car. According to Wired News:
"A more important reason is
that GPS, which can monitor exactly where a car goes within
the state and at what times, eventually could be used to
implement different tax rates, according to Whitty."
Source: "Driving
While Intaxicated," Wired News, Jun. 3, 2003.
Oregon, particularly Portland,
is held aloft as a model for socialist central planners, being
on the forefront of government mass transit projects, property
rights infringements designed to curtail growth, and taxation
designed to prevent certain behaviors (such as driving during
peak traffic hours, not planting enough government-approved
shrubbery, etc.). These central planning schemes are often
referred to as "smart growth" by advocates — and "government
growth" by opponents.
Local organizations such as
Envision Utah and the
Sierra
Club attempt to promote similar schemes in Utah. Mandatory
tracking chips represent an exciting new realm of opportunity
for central planners who desire to monitor and control
citizens.
Note: Due to runaway
socialism, Oregon is undergoing a serious budget crisis. It is
amazing that Mr. Whitty had the time and resources to make a
trip to an interim meeting of the Utah legislature to pitch a
plan that has not even been implemented in Oregon. Who paid
for this trip and what elected official(s) authorized it? For
more information on "government growth policies," see the
Growth & Transportation section of our Other Resources
page.
Back to Topics
2. Dumbing Utahns Down for "Government Growth" Schemes
Are legislators really
considering a Big Brother scheme like this? Consider a
portion of the interim meeting agenda that precipitated
the discussion of the tracking chip:
"In the next 27 years, UTA
(Utah Transit Authority) projects the need for $5.4 billion
to fund construction of commuter rail, light rail
extensions, bus rapid transit lines, and other expansion
systems. In addition, $1.7 billion will be needed to fund
bus and rail car replacements through the year 2030. Through
the same period, long-range capital improvements needs
include a reported $100 million for the Sun Tran Transit
District in St. George, $90 million for the Park City
Transit District, and $90 million for the Cache Valley
Transit District and the Logan Transit District. What
projects are in the long-range plans for transit districts?
How much of the transit needs can be funded with
current revenue streams? What funding sources are being
considered to address these needs? Is transit funding
competing with highway funding? To what extent should
transit funding and highway funding be considered together
or separate? How cost effective is transit service? How much
of the budget do fares provide? What are the current plans,
cost estimates, and time frames for the proposed commuter
rail and light rail extension lines? How are these lines
expected to help transportation needs in the state?"
[bold added]
Notice the repeated use of the
phrase "needs." Do they honestly think we will cease to exist
or function without $5.4+ billion in additional rail and bus
"projects"? Also notice that the prevailing tone has little to
do with whether these types of projects should be funded at
all — or whether taxpayer dollars should be funneled through a
pseudo-governmental organization like the Utah Department of
Transporation (UDOT).
The agenda is strangely silent
on legitimate transportation questions, such as: Why can’t
legislators, who pretend to respect freedom, eliminate onerous
regulations that prevent private, non-subsidized bus and taxi
businesses from being able to fairly compete with UDOT —
thereby reducing traffic congestion and the need for more
government "projects"?
Crash course in Bureaucracy
101: Transportation officials don’t come down from Oregon
and become the centerpiece in Utah legislative hearings just
for fun. UDOT and "government growth" advocates are attempting
to lay the groundwork to destroy privacy, increase taxes, and
weaken freedom. This hearing is a test balloon for these and
other projects.
Consider that, in 1997, citizens
resoundingly defeated a proposal to insert "smart card" chips
(House
Bill 244) in Utah drivers licenses that could contain
personal information. Bureaucrats, under the direction of the
Governor, flagrantly defied the will of the people and
recently inserted these chips in drivers licenses.
Imagine a future where these
same bureaucrats can obtain access to information about where,
when, and how fast you drive. If you speed, or take a wrong
turn into a restricted area in a national forest, will you
receive a ticket in the mail with a satellite photo of your
vehicle? And if government can track your movement by car, why
can’t bicycles or even individuals be tracked in this manner?
Back to Topics
3. TAKE ACTION!
We therefore recommend the
following actions:
1. Call (and, if possible,
fax and email) the following officials:
Please inform us of any
responses you receive at
info@accountabilityutah.org. Give officials a piece
of your mind now (or your privacy later).
2. Forward this message
to your family, friends, and any activists you know. Encourage
them to voice their concerns and get involved.
3. Volunteer to help flier
the districts of tax-and-spend officials as required by e-mailing us
at
info@accountabilityutah.org.
4. Monitor this site for
new and updated information and join our alert list by
e-mailing us at
info@accountabilityutah.org.
Back to Topics
Accountability Utah
recipe: Take our information and opinion, research their
information and opinion (if it is available), and then examine
the law and draw your own conclusions. For more information on
similar issues, see the
Taxes &
Spending section of our Issues &
Alerts page.
If you have comments or suggestions, please
email us at info@accountabilityutah.org.
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