Channel 13, NJN, 5/31/2001
The acting governor of NJ said he wants to eliminate
toll barriers, and perhaps use full highway speed
(65MPH) E-ZPass readers for toll collection.
On those toll roads E-ZPass would become mandatory, obviously.
---- Previously ----
E-ZPass: anything Orwellian about it?
Here is an URL showing the E-ZPass hardware at the toll plazas:
http://www.ettm.com/focus_pa/etcfocus_panynj.html
It's running RAID and has a fiber optic network connection.
Documents (this is all in writing) show that E-ZPass
here in CT/NJ/NY/PA was selected because it has r/w
update-able memory. The stated plan is to force commercial
vehicle drivers to identify themselves to the transponder.
(My pessimistic take: They'll start with commercial...)
Commercial licenses have been "federalized".
Also pictured and discussed at the above URL is something
called an AVI reader. The document states:
# Therefore, a single AVI reader can simultaneously monitor up to
# eight lanes of [E-ZPass] traffic at speeds of up to 100 mph.
Wow, what is that for???
Well, the U.S. DOT now calls E-ZPass technology
an "electronic license plate".
What's the difference between a regular license plate
and an electronic one?
Orwellian.Org/docs/ITS_E-ZPass_NY_NJ.pdf
#
# TRANSCOM members, many of whom are also involved with the E-ZPass
# effort, saw the benefits of building incident detection and
# congestion monitoring functions upon the E-ZPass transponder.
#
# Additional readers could be installed along the highway to provide
# TRANSCOM with regional incident detection and congestion management
# data...vehicles could be used as probes...exit data will be collected.
#
# The first stage of the system covers 22 miles of the New York
# State Thruway and the Garden State Parkway. Phase two has
# been approved, covering over 100 miles of roadways.
Non-toll full highway speed E-ZPass readers, all over.
They intend to be able to track you everywhere.
(AVI/transponders == E-ZPass)
http://www.its.dot.gov/staterpt/NY.HTM#deployment
#
# TRANSMIT (TRANSCOM) - $3.5 million test completed 11/99
#
# This test evaluates the use of automatic
# vehicle identification (AVI) technology as an
# incident detection tool. The system consists
# of AVI "tag" readers which allow vehicles
# equipped with transponders to serve as traffic
# probes to identify potential incidents by
# comparing actual to predicted travel times
# between readers.
You are now a traffic probe, using your electronic license plate.
Your highly detailed movements are monitored for your safety.
They never told us E-ZPass was part of a massive monitoring system.
It's all in writing. No black helicopters chasing me.
NYPD has tracked E-ZPass vehicles, no court order necessary:
http://www.ettm.com/news/ezwrong.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/2000-01-31/News_and_Views/Crime_File/a-55245.asp
Would they really set up a massive monitoring grid?
Yes, it's called "ITS", or Intelligent Transportation System.
Could they track all E-ZPass vehicles in NYC?
Did you know that all of NYC is already
wired as a vehicle monitoring grid?
: "Above the Law", by David Burnham, ISBN 0-684-80699-1, 1996
:
: In New York City, the FBI spent millions of dollars to install a permanent
: "fully-functional real-time physical tracking network."
:
: It should come as no surprise that the FBI did not announce this addition
: to its investigative bag of tricks: a citywide network of hidden sensing
: devices that pick up signals from a moving vehicle and immediately project
: the precise location on a large illuminated map located in the FBI's New
: York command post.
:
: When the FBI's technology head was asked how the new tracking system was
: working, he looked surprised, and didn't answer the question. "How did you
: know about that?" he asked.
:
: The FBI denied a request for a tour of its Manhatten command post, where
: the output from its instantaneous tracking system is displayed for the
: brass.
:
: In 1993, however, the FBI allowed a reporter who was working on what the
: bureau expected would be a friendly article to visit the inner sanctum.
:
: The command center, she later wrote, "looks not unlike the Starship
: Enterprise, of 'Star Trek.' On the rear wall of the room are three giant
: screens on which neighborhood maps, live field surveillance, and graphs
: charting the progress of a manhunt can be projected.
:
: Law enforcement officials, at stations in three semicircular tiers of
: desks, can watch---and direct---as criminals are caught in the act.
:
: Their computer mouse screen pointers are a gun icon.
