Robogov coming to a town near you
Automation is taking over all aspects of society. In many cases, this is a good thing. As we explain in Splitting Pennies – Understanding Forex – trading Forex manually (Without robots or automation) is basically impossible. But also we’ve learned that when anything is done by the government, it ends up being mismanaged, overpriced, delayed, or worse. In the most extreme example, inmates on death row that are killed by the government, are later found to be innocent with DNA or other hard evidence. Studies show recently that 4% of inmates killed are innocent, but many believe it to be much higher, as much as 50%. Whatever is the number, one person being killed who is innocent is one too many.
So, the state of Florida has implemented an automated toll system, which will not only take a photo of your license plate automatically, it will automatically find your address based on your DMV records, and mail you an invoice!
This invoice was paid promptly via online credit card. What would have been interesting to see how they handle situations where the invoice was not paid! But they fairly billed only the toll, $4.75. It happened on the way from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, on 95’s new overpass, southbound to Miami. There were many flashing signs “Tolls begin Monday (it was Saturday night)” – but no where to pay the toll.
What happens when the IRS automatically deducts your taxes from your bank account? Let’s be practical, any bank or financial institution inside the borders of USA – is open to the possibility of complete control by the Feds, for benign reasons – or in case of emergency, POTUS can always declare some emergency circumstances.. and poof! For example:
“In order to protect your security, and maintain financial stability of the system, we are deducting this temporary lien fine from your account, according to Section 42 Title 9 of the code. Due to paperwork reduction act compliance this notification is electronic only. Have a nice day.”
Sounds far fetched, but so does the automated robotic toll system currently in use by the state of Florida, that automatically photographs cars and mails the registered drivers invoices – to other states!
Practically speaking, systems like this are not new, and have been in use in Europe for decades, and in California. What’s particularly creepy about this though is there was no way to pay the toll in person by car. It wasn’t labelled too well – no sign saying “Drive in this lane and we will mail you a ticket.” Not sure if that’s even legal.
Dear lawyers, is it a legally binding contract, between driver and the State of Florida, by driving in this lane, I have agreed they will photograph my car, and mail me an invoice? Does it violate my privacy? What if I didn’t understand the …read more
Source: Robogov coming to a town near you
