FC: New Zealand minister wants to implant new cars with tracking chips

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

See Oregon's benighted plan:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04362.html
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Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 10:38:13 +1000
From: Moz <lists () moz co nz>
To: declan () well com
Subject: (New Zealand) Motorists face travel tax and 'Big Brother' 
microchip law enforcement


Hi Declan, welcome back.

Note the quote towards the end "I think in the very long term all new
cars will come out with some electronic identifier."


http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2651803a11,00.html

Motorists face travel tax and 'Big Brother' microchip law enforcement
07 September 2003

By MATTHEW LOWE

Motorists face being taxed on how far they travel under government plans to 
generate cash.


Transport Minister Paul Swain said with vehicles becoming more fuel 
efficient, revenue from petrol tax would
drop and alternative charges needed to be considered.

It is one of a number of transport schemes being looked at by officials, 
including a Big Brother-style
project to equip every car with a personalised microchip so law-breaking 
motorists can be prosecuted by
computer.

Petrol excise made up $462 million of the national roads fund in 2001-02 
but Swain fears the amount from
fuel taxes could start stalling.

He said taxing motorists based on the distance they covered would help fund 
roading improvements and the
charges would come on top of any road tolling or congestion fees.

"In the long run we are going to have to shift from a system of paying 
taxes on energy (petrol) to one based
on distance, similar to road-user charges," said Swain. "Because car 
engines are getting more and more
efficient the ability to tax the energy becomes less and less."

At the same time, police and transport officials are looking at 
"spy-chips", which automatically report
speeding, illegal parking, and vehicles that are unregistered or without a 
warrant of fitness certificate.

Guilty drivers would learn they had been caught breaking the law only when 
a fine or summons arrived in the
post.

Officials are watching the development of an electronic vehicle 
identification (EVI) programme in Europe
before deciding if it can be applied in New Zealand.

The scheme has sparked concerns from civil liberties experts as vehicles 
could seemingly be monitored
wherever they travelled.

Civil rights lawyer Tim McBride feared the scheme could lead to an invasion 
of privacy.

"There are some obvious public benefits but we should not give it any 
serious consideration without a
thorough public consultation process."

Under the programme, roadside sensors read a car's microchip and that 
information goes to a central computer
system to check the car is legal. Those breaking the law are penalised.

Swain said any introduction of the scheme would be some years away with 
other technological advances,
including electronic tolling, a higher priority.

"I think in the very long term all new cars will come out with some 
electronic identifier.

"That will be there as a security mechanism as well as providing 
information about the vehicle and I think a
lot of this type of technology will evolve through new car manufacturers."

Police could benefit from EVI with computers handling the trapping and 
issuing of infringement notices to
speeding motorists and it could be used to locate stolen cars.

Transportation engineer Stephen Burnett, who advises central and local 
government on transport issues, said
microchips could easily hold vehicle details but to cover law enforcement 
as well would come at a price.

"There are tremendous benefits to be gained but that would also be tempered 
with what information is on the
chip and who has control of that information."

Automobile Association spokesman George Fairbairn said the technology could 
be used to charge people for
driving at peak hours and on congested routes but it ran the risk of being 
like "Big Brother is watching
you".




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