Heal the earth, insure the homeless, pay your mortgage and put food on your table. The Obamassiah has made a lot of promises. “Pass the stimulus and unemployment won’t go over 8%” said Obama earlier this year. It’s now about to hit 10%. ACORN/Census workers are plotting the GPS coordinates of your front door, and soon, you may be required to have a GPS in your car.

A federal commission concluded a GPS-based mileage tax to offset the revenue decline by newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles was the “best path forward”, and now University of Iowa researchers are tweaking a GPS system that will track your vehicles every move. With the current by-the-gallon fuel tax is not generating enough revenue, many are proposing a pay-by-the-mile tax. The only way to accomplish this would be to equip all vehicles with a device to track your mileage.

I think the concept of a pay-as-you go fuel tax may have merit, but using GPS is not the answer as it will allow a further breach of our civil liberties. With the technological advances in the last decade, far less intrusive technology could be used. How about a device that doesn’t track your vehicle, but records your mileage since your last fill up at the gas station and charges you at the pump?

Proponents of the project claim the GPS devices could also be used to as a tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion. Bullshit. There are other ways to monitor traffic including below pavement ground sensors, cameras, etc.

As one blogger put it, “I’m also paranoid enough that I’d prefer not being harassed or suspected of a crime because I’m one of 200 other cars listed as “near” a crime scene.” Or another who said:

I’m a pretty good shade tree mechanic, even on newer cars.

You’d better believe that the transponder on my next car is going to get removed and will be emitting a nice, regular signal from the corner of the garage, while it gathers dust. It will keep company with the restrictive catalytic converter, intake manifold, and exhaust system that I removed from my sports car.

Welcome to George Orwell’s world.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Politics, Science, Web/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.