Speaking of privacy violations, Caltrans is expanding the use of Fastrak, their automatic toll collection system. They’re adding antennae along the highways, to collect realtime traffic info. This makes tracking individual drivers that much easier — another step down the slippery slope.
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The toll road authority here in Houston has done that for several years. While I dislike the privacy implications, I do like the signs that tell me “Travel time to Beltway 8 at 8:15 AM: 15 minutes”. I also like the real-time travel map that Texas A&M uses the data to create.
Yeah! That’s the tricky bit. If the data is always anonymized, it’s not an invasion of privacy… but you gotta trust ’em to anonymize it. It’s the old battle between convenience and privacy.