Bermuda to RFID tag every motor vehicle

In what may be the largest implementation yet of wireless vehicle tracking technology, the island nation of Bermuda plans to slap RFID tags on every single car, truck, and motorcycle in the country, in an effort to exert more control over a road system which is said to carry the world's highest density per square mile of motor traffic. Consisting of vehicle-mounted transmitters and portable and stationary readers, the so-called electronic vehicle registration system promises to reduce the number of non-compliant vehicles on the road to below one percent while at the same time recouping some $11 million in fines that would otherwise have been lost over a five year period. To stifle privacy concerns, Bermuda's Transport Control Department mandated that the 3M-built tags only contain vehicle-specific data -- and not personal driver information -- although we can't imagine that authorities won't be using the system to track down carjackers, kidnappers, and other fleeing criminals. Either way, we sure wouldn't want to be cruising around the streets of St. George in the near future, because it sounds like unsuspecting motorists are about to get deluged by a torrential downpour of tickets and citations.

[supermeerkat @ May 9th 2007 5:46AM]

I imagine that other governments will be watching this closely and taking notes: It's only a matter of time before they start to implement similar plans. And then we'll awake one morning and find out that we're under surveillance 24/7.

How depressing.

[Cole @ May 9th 2007 5:47AM]

Privacy and public freedom vs. public order. It is a very thin line and I think this crosses it. Good thing tin foil exists.

[supermeerkat @ May 9th 2007 6:08AM]

I never go anywhere without my tinfoil helmet.

[flo @ May 9th 2007 7:37AM]

They already have all the meter maids running around giving tickets left and right and the cops sitting on the side of the road during morning rush hour pulling random people over to check registrations and give more tickets. Now this! I guess they don't want to miss anyone...

[Mark @ May 9th 2007 8:26AM]

Anyone driving into the Bermuda Triangle this weekend?

[pigfister @ May 9th 2007 8:59AM]

they want to use gps in the uk to track vehicles so they can charge by the mile travelled. soon we will all have an rfid placed in us at birth so they can make sure we aren't terrorists!

http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/

[DorianGray @ May 9th 2007 11:06AM]

Awesome!!! Using technology the way it was meant to be used -- to usher in the draconian future we've all dreamed of!!!

[Derek @ May 9th 2007 11:09AM]

What a lot of people here don't realize is that Bermuda's government already only allows very small cars on the road and in limited numbers. It's a small island nation, they do have genuine concerns. Their transportation regulations are unlike almost any other nation's.

I'm not saying I agree with this, but I'm certainly not surprised. My dad lived in Bermuda for about 7 or 8 years and I still have family there.

[Daryl Herbert @ May 9th 2007 4:14PM]

This could be useful to organized crime and foreign intelligence agencies.

1: Make and maintain a list of RFID IDs of vehicles belonging to people you want to track down. If one of these people appears in public with their car, it should not be too difficult to get the ID.

2: Put a custom machine in all vehicles in your fleet. This machine would have GPS, an RFID reader, and a copy of the List

3: Whenever it passes a vehicle on the list, it would store the GPS data/time of the match.

4: Thus it would be possible to discover people's houses/neighborhoods they drive in simply by passing them accidentally

5: Park a few of these vehicles in the general vicinity of where you think the person of interest lives. Use "hits" (detections of their vehicle) of them coming to/from work to narrow the range of where their house actually is.

It could also be used by intelligence agencies to track down government employees, if they were required to RFID their personal vehicles. It would not be too difficult to put a detector like the one I described on a road near some security facility and simply record every ID that went by during rush hour.

This technology would be as much of a threat to the American government as it would benefit the government. Therefore, it won't be used here. Our government will continue to rely on OCR of people's license plates, and other tech that isn't so easily exploited by the other side.

[sshah87 @ May 9th 2007 4:30PM]

Um, Driving may be a privilege, but how about privacy? Is that also not guaranteed anymore?

[o0congee0o @ May 9th 2007 6:05PM]

Go to Bermuda once and try to trigger a car chase, you'll soon realize that it ends pretty quickly. The whole island can be crossed in 30 minutes @ 30mph. Yea I tried.

so i can't imagine them using this system on fleeing criminals on the island. Not to mention the 3 major roads on the island are all two ways and about the width of a subcompact.

[Dale @ May 11th 2007 9:27PM]

Why would law abiding drivers get deluged with tickets unless the traffic enforcement department is corrupt? I wish that California had RFID or barcode ID on all vehicle licenses. The horrific cost of auto insurance is a direct result of the negative impact of uninsured vehicles and scafflaw drivers who don't pay their tickets. It would also potentially reduce the number of stolen vehicles and aid in the recovery of those that are. Driving is a privilege not a right.

[tekdroid @ May 9th 2007 2:43PM]

The horrific cost of auto insurance is a direct result of the negative impact of uninsured vehicles and scafflaw drivers who don't pay their tickets.
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Or just plain ol' fashioned greed and 'shareholder value'. Have you seen the obscene profits insurance companies make? Of course the average Joe will always be told it's for his own good / the greater good. That's what gets things implemented. Then they cross the line.

As usual it's all about money (saving it, making it) and control (over the masses).