Mon
Oct 1 2007
11:42 am
Infrared scanning of auto occupants for HOV/HOT enforcement
By: bizgrrl

HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes were a clever way to force carpooling. HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes are new to me.

Are you ready for change? Will we let technology control our lives?

Are drivers ready to be scanned like groceries at the supermarket?

The answer will help determine whether Washington area commuters use a planned network of high-occupancy and toll lanes, which will start to take shape next year when an expansion of the Capital Beltway is to begin.
...
The private companies that will build and operate the Beltway lanes have proposed using technology that would scan drivers and passengers with bursts of infrared light that detect human skin. The technology is so sophisticated that it can distinguish human faces from decoy dummies and shotgun-riding dogs, according to Ken Daley, a senior vice president at toll road operator Transurban, one of two private companies behind the Beltway project.
...
Still, she noted that drivers can decide whether to subject themselves to the systems. "If they just can't stomach that, then they have their choice, right next to it, to use the general-purpose lane," Goodin said.

Are they going to far? Do we have to accept change just because it's possible? To those who feel if you are doing nothing wrong, so what? Is it okay to be scanned by infrared while traveling?

Topics:
Hayduke's picture

Is this significantly

Submitted by Hayduke on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 2:58pm.

Is this significantly different from being 'scanned' every time you go through some major intersections in Knoxville to determine if you ran the light?

I'm a lot more disturbed by private companies "operating" highways. Will they police them with Blackwater rent-a-thugs?

Michael's picture

Damn That Technology

Submitted by Michael on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 4:34pm.

Why, the next thing you know, they'll be using hand-held scanners that can detect how fast a car is going just by pointing at them. If a cop scans you going over the speed limit, bam, they'll hit you with a ticket. Remember when police had to do their job by actually following a car to track how fast it was going? Those were the days.
~m.

bizgrrl's picture

Humph. Sarcasm detected.

Submitted by bizgrrl on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 4:47pm.

Humph. Sarcasm detected.

Carole Borges's picture

So much time and money spent catching us...

Submitted by Carole Borges on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 4:44pm.

Meanwhile they can't find Osama Bin Laden or even the pervert who abused that little girl. I don't like all this intensity about law enforcement. Personally, it worries me. Nothing is ever as benign as it seems. This survellience "surge" makes something go "click" in my mind. Perhaps, I read Orwell and Huxley too many times?

Pam Strickland's picture

Meanwhile they can't find Osama Bin Laden

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:14pm.

Maybe I'm just too tired, but the traffic cops aren't the ones looking for Bin Laden, right? It seems to me that this comparison is way, way off the mark.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Carole Borges's picture

It was a reference to technology

Submitted by Carole Borges on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:26pm.

They "the Government" and many states & cities are spending money buying a plethora of things like these infra-red scanners to track motorists, but they can't seem to be technically savvy enough to purchase equipment that could catch UBL. On the other hand, they may have it, but don't feel he is worth the bother.

Pam Strickland's picture

but the tech wasn't mentioned

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:27pm.

All that was mentioned was some vague "they." No technology in the reply that said "they" can't find Bin Laden or the pediafil out west. Maybe I've been reading too many freshmen composition papers, but I need clarity for things to make sense, and I've stopped trying to fill in the blanks for folks.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Carole Borges's picture

Well, I guess I got an "F' on that one Teach

Submitted by Carole Borges on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:30pm.

In the future, I'll keep your needs in mind. Maybe a nice nap or a cup of tea would relax you. English Comp. is pretty dreary at times. Though I loved teaching my classes.

Pam Strickland's picture

Yeah

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 7:53pm.

It's probably not just my needs, filling is the blanks is something that I think way to many of us expect others to do when we make a quick post. Me, included also.

Yes, it can be dreary. But I do love it -- in about six weeks, especially when so many of them have that giant leap in understanding and performance.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

SammySkull's picture

Ben Franklin said it well,

Submitted by SammySkull on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 6:30pm.

Ben Franklin said it well, though I'm paraphrasing. Those who would choose safety over liberty deserve neither.

Hayduke's picture

I guess you could use that

Submitted by Hayduke on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 9:57pm.

I guess you could use that logic to justify driving 100 mph through a school zone, but what does it have to do with going solo in an HOV lane?

SammySkull's picture

Nice leap Hayduke! Don't

Submitted by SammySkull on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 11:55pm.

Nice leap Hayduke! Don't bother thinking through anything, just sit back and trust that they will take care of you and keep you safe.

lovable liberal's picture

Surveillance state

Submitted by lovable liberal on Mon, 2007/10/01 - 9:32pm.

The only privacy we have left is inside our heads, and maybe that's enough. --Tom Reynolds (Jon Voight), Enemy of the State

Want to drive into a city but you're not willing to pay taxes to maintain the roads? User fees, extracted by transponder. It'll even be pitched as good for the environment since it gives an incentive to take public transportation.

Want to be able to find missing persons like the woman near Seattle. (And who doesn't?) Get a routine court order for cell phone proximity records - if you're not the FBI and can't mail-merge a National Security Letter. It's not a nefarious conspiracy, but a cell phone can be used to find political dissidents. It's only a matter of time before it actually happens.

Sure, but who would do that? Well, Tom DeLay used the FAA to find the Democrats from Texas when they were fighting his eventually successful attempt to change the rules for the sole purpose of helping Republicans.

You think there are any records of what you have watched, purchased, eaten, written, or surfed that can't be obtained by an interested bureaucrat? Nope. Sorry. Duhbya has the power, and everything goes down on disk these days. Searching it is not Constitutional, but the Washington Democrats are meekly acquiescing.

So don't be surprised if the NSA knows every move you make in a few years. Or today.

Liberty and justice for all.

My new home

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