A new Illinois law will target so-called “super-speeders,” requiring them to install speed-limiting devices in their vehicles if they commit multiple road violations.
Oh don’t get me wrong I agree with it in principle for that circumstance. The problem is these things never stay in those conditions. Utilization creeps. It starts with let’s protect the children let’s protect the innocent, and pretty soon nobody can do what they want anymore.
Besides, that’s what the laws are for and they should have their license revoked or they go to jail.
Put another way, as Ben Franklin once said, those who would trade freedom for safety deserve neither.
This particular case seems to me like putting a breathalyzer in an impaired driver’s car. These aren’t toys, they’re dangerous machines that we’re doing nothing about being built more dangerous by the year. If someone egregiously breaks the law and gets a limiter as punishment I’m okay with it like I’m okay with a breathalyzer.
My point is that in a few years, all of a sudden, limiters will be mandated in every car (but not actively used). Some years after that, a law will pass that forces all cars to be limited to the posted speed limit.
This is the “You have nothing to worry about if you have nothing to hide” fallacy.
It’s not an issue of whether, under certain circumstances, it is justifiable for certain individuals. The issue is the erosion of personal freedom and privacy that it enables and will eventually occur.
For example, EZ-Pass was marketed as an optional choice to speed up your travel on toll roads. The tracking and use of that information was a side effect never discussed, but periodically showed up when someone who did something wrong was tracked, found, and arrested because of it.
Now on most of those roads, EZ-Pass is effectively mandatory as there are no payment lanes and thus your license is photographed and a bill is sent in the mail.
Total surveillance. No avoidance. Now Flock cameras are going up everywhere, so you can’t even avoid tracking by staying off those highways.
Do you see what I’m describing? Cars have GPS and Cell radios and now car companies are selling your telemetry to insurance companies, who use it to raise your expenses whether or not you actually cost them anything.
They’re peddling “safety” through us giving up privacy (and by extension, freedom).
Oh don’t get me wrong I agree with it in principle for that circumstance. The problem is these things never stay in those conditions. Utilization creeps. It starts with let’s protect the children let’s protect the innocent, and pretty soon nobody can do what they want anymore.
Besides, that’s what the laws are for and they should have their license revoked or they go to jail.
Put another way, as Ben Franklin once said, those who would trade freedom for safety deserve neither.
This particular case seems to me like putting a breathalyzer in an impaired driver’s car. These aren’t toys, they’re dangerous machines that we’re doing nothing about being built more dangerous by the year. If someone egregiously breaks the law and gets a limiter as punishment I’m okay with it like I’m okay with a breathalyzer.
My point is that in a few years, all of a sudden, limiters will be mandated in every car (but not actively used). Some years after that, a law will pass that forces all cars to be limited to the posted speed limit.
This is the “You have nothing to worry about if you have nothing to hide” fallacy.
It’s not an issue of whether, under certain circumstances, it is justifiable for certain individuals. The issue is the erosion of personal freedom and privacy that it enables and will eventually occur.
For example, EZ-Pass was marketed as an optional choice to speed up your travel on toll roads. The tracking and use of that information was a side effect never discussed, but periodically showed up when someone who did something wrong was tracked, found, and arrested because of it.
Now on most of those roads, EZ-Pass is effectively mandatory as there are no payment lanes and thus your license is photographed and a bill is sent in the mail.
Total surveillance. No avoidance. Now Flock cameras are going up everywhere, so you can’t even avoid tracking by staying off those highways.
Do you see what I’m describing? Cars have GPS and Cell radios and now car companies are selling your telemetry to insurance companies, who use it to raise your expenses whether or not you actually cost them anything.
They’re peddling “safety” through us giving up privacy (and by extension, freedom).