Missouri to use cellphone signals to monitor traffic
Add Missouri to the list of states planning to undermine driver privacy in the name of more efficiently managing their roads. The state is planning a program with a $3 million annual budget that will track vehicles using cellphone triangulation, silently measuring the speed of vehicles via the cellphones within, as they're handed off from tower to tower. While the state insists that the system is designed to help motorists avoid traffic tie-ups by monitoring road conditions, privacy advocates point out that it can tie specific cellphone numbers to specific vehicles, and can be used to track individual drivers. Of course, there's one sure way to avoid being tracked: just shut the cellphone off when you get in the car.
