Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey

Originally posted by VelvetSplash

Originally posted by Odium
I don't see anything in the article saying they will be placing something "In" the car, but rather that CCTV cameras will be changed to more clearly pick up the plates.

No, but it's a step closer to such a scenario, like Gazrok said.

Actually they are going to be, and if you get 'Pay as you Drive' Insurance from Norwich Union you will already have it

What is "Pay as you drive"™ insurance¹?
"Pay as you drive"™ insurance¹ is a revolutionary new type of car insurance, which enables us to provide cover as individual as you are.

Using the lastest GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) technology we are able to calculate monthly insurance premiums based on how often, when and where you drive, which means that your premiums are based on your own driving habits and not everyone else's.

Ultimately, you receive a fairer deal when it comes to insurance which empowers you with the ability to control your premiums.

How does it work?
The way it works is simple and similar to pay as you go mobile phone technology, where you pay a fixed monthly fee plus costs based on mileage. A small Smart Box with it's own GPS tracking system is installed into your car.The GPS technology monitors your journeys, which allows real-time information to be relayed to a central computer. Your premiums are then calculated based on your usage and you'll receive a detailed monthly bill.
www.norwichunion.com...

In the Independant that day there was an accompanying article about Facial Recognition and having GPS in the cars. I'm afraid you have to pay for it now, but the beginning is here. Obviously I cannot reproduce it for copyright reasons (I bought the paper that day ).

Surveillance UK: why this revolution is only the start
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 22 December 2005

The new national surveillance network for tracking car journeys, which has taken more than 25 years to develop, is only the beginning of plans to monitor the movements of all British citizens. The Home Office Scientific Development Branch in Hertfordshire is already working on ways of automatically recognising human faces by computer, which many people would see as truly introducing the prospect of Orwellian street surveillance, where our every move is recorded and stored by machines.

Although the problems of facial recognition by computer are far more formidable than for car number plates, experts believe it is only a matter of time before machines can reliably pull a face out of a crowd of moving people.
news.independent.co.uk...

AgentSmith, the problem you have is you are adding other stories to the existing stories.

This is just changing the CCTV's to more clearly pick up car registration numbers, the other projects you speak of do not directly relate to this. They are different projects.

CCTV for years have watched roads now, the only difference is now they are changing them so the technology works and logs the car. This isn't directly spying on a member of the Public, because when you are on the road you are in the Public Domain and things such as this will help a lot of Court Cases. The fact they will be able to log speed, will actually mean many tort cases never come to Court and so on and so fourth.

This is a worthwhile change, and shouldn't be taken as a project that it isn't.

People forget, that in reality a CCTV is much like a Police man walking down your road. Just stationary, and as long as they are not looking through windows, etc, than there is nothing wrong with them.

They don't stop crime, they just make it easier on the Courts and speed them up - something badly needed.

Originally posted by Odium
AgentSmith, the problem you have is you are adding other stories to the existing stories.

This is just changing the CCTV's to more clearly pick up car registration numbers, the other projects you speak of do not directly relate to this. They are different projects.

Actually the topic is "Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey" and it IS relevent (so much so it the other story was printed on the same page), unfortunately the introduction was specific to Facial recognition, but I was giving the readers the opportunity to see it for themselves. Obiously as the topic is "Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey" then the Insurance you get with the tracker is also relevent, and the additional article I linked went into more detail regarding physical trackers being added to the ANPR system. Oh and believe me, I do know how it works thanks
I tihnk the readers can easily cope with additional information to help them form a general opinon on the topic "Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey".

CCTV for years have watched roads now, the only difference is now they are changing them so the technology works and logs the car. This isn't directly spying on a member of the Public, because when you are on the road you are in the Public Domain and things such as this will help a lot of Court Cases. The fact they will be able to log speed, will actually mean many tort cases never come to Court and so on and so fourth.

You don't have to spell it out for me, I can read all by myself.

This is a worthwhile change, and shouldn't be taken as a project that it isn't.

I didn't say I had a real problem with it, in fact it does'nt bother me personally. I was just adding information.

People forget, that in reality a CCTV is much like a Police man walking down your road. Just stationary, and as long as they are not looking through windows, etc, than there is nothing wrong with them.

They don't stop crime, they just make it easier on the Courts and speed them up - something badly needed.

I know about CCTV thanks

Is it just me or does this seem to tie in nicely with the new police powers set to come into effect here in the UK on 1st Jan 2006?

The article in the link provided details how the police (not just MI5) will soon have the legal authority to COVERTLY collect any persons DNA, fingerprints and/or shoeprints regardless of whether they are suspected of committing a crime or NOT. It also worryingly describes how some Community Support Officers (sort of really lame social worker/dad's army reservists) will start operating in plain clothes on surveillance operations, more secret police anyone?

With regard to the vehicle tracking system, the article says that the penalty fines that will be issued when they sift through the data to see that you were doing 77mph on the motorway at 2am (legal limit 75mph) will be used to pay for and to expand the system to other areas like minor roads, private property like car parks, so that in time there will be no getting around it.

I can't imagine that I'm the only one here in Britain hoping that the Gallileo satellite that is essential for all this to happen suddenly, 'Does a Beagle 2!'

news.bbc.co.uk...
news.bbc.co.uk...

[edit on 29/12/2005 by Rhesus Negative]

I think that the US and Britan are in a race to become a police state

I wonder if you know what the ANPR system is,

A number of police forces already track car number plates to detect cars without tax/insurance or if they are stolen, so that the nearest traffic unit can be informed and can enforce the law.

Now of course you may think - oh no! Big Brother, but this is the same sort of system, its tracking where the car is - which direction its going in and whats its up too.

Now admittedly this system to track every car journey is bound to fail - give the project to an agency like Capita as they usually do - they will cost it at £40, then four years later it will be £600 Billion over budget and get scrapped.

Either way - if your not commiting a crime, you shouldnt be worried.