Profound Privacy Risks without our Consent: NMA E-Newsletter #545
GeekWire posted last month that Portland, Oregon quietly launched a controversial mobile location data project with partner Sidewalk Labs (a subsidiary of Alphabet–which is the parent company of Google). In this year-long pilot program, the city has authorized that people, who have smartphones, will be tracked without their consent or knowledge. Portland is using software […]
Uber Court Decision, Algorithmic Bias, and the Union of Glass and Metal
Uber Court Decision This past week, Yavapai County, Arizona Judge Sheila Sullivan Polk declared that Uber has no criminal liability for the death of Tempe pedestrian Elaine Herzberg in March 2018. Herzberg was the first known pedestrian fatality of a driverless car. Walking her bike across a dark street outside of a crosswalk, Herzberg was […]
NMA Principle Number 4: Freedom from Invasive Surveillance
The Driving in America Blog was started a year ago to bring more information to those who are beginning their journey as motorists’ rights advocates. Over the next several months, I will be working with each of the seven NMA principles to give readers of this weekly blog some idea of what we all are working towards […]
Customer Loyalty Rewarded with 9,000 Highway Spy Cameras: NMA E-Newsletter #527
From guest writer Joe Cadillic, of the MassPrivatel blog The die has been cast, whether it’s digital driver’s licenses, digital license plates, license plate readers or facial recognition cameras. Everyone from private corporations to law enforcement follows the same script; offer Americans customer loyalty rewards programs in exchange for the loss of their privacy. Surveillance […]
Covert Facial Recognition Street Lights—Coming Soon to a Neighborhood near You?: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #514
From guest writer Joe Cadillic of the MassPrivtel Blog A recent Reuter’s article revealed that ST Engineering has been awarded $5.5 million to install facial recognition street lights in Singapore. ST’s smart street lights come equipped with sensors, LED screens and covert cameras already installed. Incredibly, ST claims their spying street lights can bring “healthcare benefits to residents.” […]
No more Policymaking by Procurement
Privacy Groups and Cities fight back against Pervasive Surveillance This article first appeared in the NMA Foundation quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms Summer 2018. With no checks and balances, local law enforcement should not be spying on citizens. A number of cities, with the help of privacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are […]
Boston’s “Vision Zero” Exposed: Lowering the speed limit increases speeding ticket revenue by 47%: NMA E-Newsletter #506
From guest writer Joe Cadillic of the MassPrivatel Blog All across the country, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is hard at work convincing cities to lower their speed limits to 25 MPH. The national effort to lower speed limits in cities is a fundamental tenet of a movement known as “Vision Zero.” To date, the National Highway […]
MA Inspection Station Cameras Spy on More Than Just License Plates: NMA E-Newsletter #487
From guest writer Joe Cadillic of the MassPrivatel Blog. Since October 1, 2017, Massachusetts vehicle inspection sticker stations have each been required to purchase five cameras to record vehicles in real-time. The new system called ‘Mass Vehicle Check‘ (MVC) requires inspectors and stations to spend between $5,710.00 – $8.141.00 dollars on government-approved surveillance gear. Forcing vehicle inspection stations to pay […]
Police Drones Take Off—At what Impact to Motorists?: NMA E-Newsletter #485
Traffic stops are often one of the most dangerous situations for law enforcement (not to mention for motorists as many recent events have proven). The unknown can escalate a situation beyond safe. Police departments are now turning to drones to help alleviate some of the danger involved. Under tight regulations, drones can indeed become a […]
Auto Cop
An interesting unasked question has been raised by Ford’s announcement that it is developing a cop-less cop car. That is, an automated and AI cop car that would sneak itself behind the bushes and use license plate scanners, facial recognition and other such revenue-raising technologies to automatically issue paying’ paper. All the time. Everywhere. For […]