First it was razor blades, now it's your car.
Posted by: Tony Lockhart on 01 October 2005
The following was taken from AOL Motoring news
Government to Trial Car-Tracking Plates
Number plates that contain microchips enabling cars to be tracked on the roads are to be tested by the Government and could soon be in use in the UK.
The high-tech plates transmit information such as Vehicle Identification Numbers to data readers placed alongside roads, which can be picked up at any speed and up to 300 feet away.
Making use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, the tagged plate scheme is said to be a massive improvement over cameras that use character recognition and only have a 75 to 90 per cent accuracy rate.
The Department for Transport officially approved the microchipped plates last week and testing is expected to start towards the end of this year.
A DfT spokesman said that they want to see if the scheme would make number plates harder to clone or forge, in response to the growing trend of commuters in the London congestion charge zone using fake plates to avoid paying the charge or subsequent fines.
Forged plates are also frequently used by organised criminals when commiting robberies in order to avoid being traced.
Already in use in San Francisco to collect road tolls, the use of this new technology is being closely watched by police forces in the US, which are interested in the possiblities of using it to track uninsured drivers, car thieves or even to foil terrorists using their roadways.
However, civil liberty groups are typically wary, warning that such RFID systems could easily become a "back door surveillance tool".
Tony
Government to Trial Car-Tracking Plates
Number plates that contain microchips enabling cars to be tracked on the roads are to be tested by the Government and could soon be in use in the UK.
The high-tech plates transmit information such as Vehicle Identification Numbers to data readers placed alongside roads, which can be picked up at any speed and up to 300 feet away.
Making use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, the tagged plate scheme is said to be a massive improvement over cameras that use character recognition and only have a 75 to 90 per cent accuracy rate.
The Department for Transport officially approved the microchipped plates last week and testing is expected to start towards the end of this year.
A DfT spokesman said that they want to see if the scheme would make number plates harder to clone or forge, in response to the growing trend of commuters in the London congestion charge zone using fake plates to avoid paying the charge or subsequent fines.
Forged plates are also frequently used by organised criminals when commiting robberies in order to avoid being traced.
Already in use in San Francisco to collect road tolls, the use of this new technology is being closely watched by police forces in the US, which are interested in the possiblities of using it to track uninsured drivers, car thieves or even to foil terrorists using their roadways.
However, civil liberty groups are typically wary, warning that such RFID systems could easily become a "back door surveillance tool".
Tony