Althouse: "Your car already contains electronics that could report on, say, the quality of your emissions."

April 16, 2009

"Your car already contains electronics that could report on, say, the quality of your emissions."

"How long before government knows not just where you went, but how fast and how much CO2 you vented in the process, and thanks to your email and phone records, whether you were visiting somebody or doing something that might warrant a further look?"

16 comments:

Bissage said...: The monitoring of the populace will be largely automated so there really won’t be all that many jobs to be had.; 4/16/09, 6:39 AM
rhhardin said...: I spend all my day trying to get noticed.; 4/16/09, 6:51 AM
Mitch said...: This is all about power and control. It matters not who is elected to office.

+++++++

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." --George Orwell, 1984; 4/16/09, 8:19 AM
SteveR said...: Why do I have the feeling the people most inclined to snoop into my fuel economy are the same ones who complained waterboarding KSM and wiretapping conversations between suspected terrorists was unconstitutional?; 4/16/09, 8:21 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: My emissions smell like freshly baked cinnamon rolls.; 4/16/09, 8:23 AM
Michael Haz said...: I remember being a child in Catholic grade school during the 1950s. The nuns taught us about living in the Soviet Union.

They explained that if we were Russian the communist party would tell us where we had to live, would require that we travel only with government permission (which was nearly impossible to obtain), would tell us how much money our family could earn, would provide the kind of food the government wanted us to eat, and would track our movements.

The nuns also taught that in Russia the government dictated what would be taught in schools, required that students belong to compulsory service organizations, and that students would be rewarded when they reported violations of policy committed by their own parents.

They also taught that the high-ranking members of the party were exempt from the rules the party made, had a lot of money, nice homes, cars, good food, better schools and clothes, etc.

I fear that the US is slowly imposing the same restraints on its citizens.; 4/16/09, 8:37 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: "Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is moving ahead with a plan for mandatory GPS devices in cars that would be read at gas pumps and automatically charge drivers for miles driven."

California, the greenie weenie state, wants to replace home thermostats with "smart" ones controlled by either the state or the utility companies. The thermostats will regulate your heating and air conditioning at preset levels mandated by the state.

In Chicago, we not only have red light cameras but there are cameras monitoring certain areas of the city. Da mayor wants to expand that program city wide.

It is a Brave New World.; 4/16/09, 8:38 AM
Wince said...: "Your car already contains electronics that could report on, say, the quality of your emissions." Coincidentaly, my car was just complaining that my emissions taste a little salty.; 4/16/09, 9:04 AM
chuckR said...: Whether its GPS in cars or state controlled thermostats, the technology to defeat the measures will advance faster as the attempts to impose it. Just ask the RIAA about its many successes in digital rights management.

Note to Deval the Dumb: there already is a way to tax fuel consumers at the pump. Think about it. Because wear and tear on roads is related to vehicle weight and that in turn is related to fuel consumption rate, you are on a sound footing in imposing such a tax. Come on, Deval, I know you can guess what the answer is.; 4/16/09, 9:06 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: "They also taught that the high-ranking members of the party were exempt from the rules the party made, had a lot of money, nice homes, cars, good food, better schools and clothes, etc.

I fear that the US is slowly imposing the same restraints on its citizens."

I.B.O; 4/16/09, 9:06 AM
Cedarford said...: SteveR said...
Why do I have the feeling the people most inclined to snoop into my fuel economy are the same ones who complained waterboarding KSM and wiretapping conversations between suspected terrorists was unconstitutional?Great point, Steve R!

People who railed on the Patriot Act are the identical people who want better monitoring of individuals for our own good. And taxes imposed not to benefit them but now an entirely different class of "needy people" (double the tobacco tax to help pay for illegal alien's children's dental and healthcare needs.)

Add in that a prime driver of Nanny State impositions are the ladies of the NEA. Who may have poorly performing students in undisciplined classrooms but who relish the degree of control they have over the tykes and the number of stupid little rules they can be made to follow. Who wish to take their indoctrination of kids past knowing anything to learning what is good for them - into a larger society.

And not just government functionaries want new intrusions in our lives.
Many insurance companies and private firms want genetic screening so as to better not insure or hire "risky people."; 4/16/09, 10:52 AM
Veeshir said...: ""Your car already contains electronics that could report on...It's already going on, this obscure blogger even had a post on it.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2006/08/does-your-car-have-black-box.html; 4/16/09, 11:21 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Paranoia will destroy ya.The WSJ editorial page is a nest of lies and disinformation.; 4/16/09, 1:06 PM
mariner said...: So now my car will rat me out when I fart?; 4/16/09, 1:16 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Where I live, if a high school student wants to drive to school, they have to submit to random required drug testing.

Abhorrent! Training the youth to just bend over and take it up the tailpipe from the gummint.

If I had kids, I'd let them drive almost to school, and let them park on the street just short of school property.

I wouldn't consent to random drug testing. If there's something suspicious, call me, and I'll take care of it.

They require student athletes and students in student organizations to submit to random drug testing too.

Let's treat everyone as a suspicious character! eff off; 4/16/09, 9:26 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "Your car already contains electronics that could report on, say, the quality of your emissions."

Ummm, does Titus know about this???; 4/16/09, 9:36 PM