Police Misconduct Costs Taxpayers More Than Just Money: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #502
Society has trouble talking about police misconduct in any meaningful way. If we question police actions, it looks as if we don’t support them. In reality, most of us do support the brave men and women who put themselves on the line every day for our safety. When traffic stops are the most common daily […]
The Internet of Roads
They used to say the walls have ears. Soon, the road will have brains. Well, they’ll be connected to one brain — not yours. They call it “smart pavement.” Everything is smart these days. Meaning, won’t leave you alone, is peremptory, controlling and most of all, nudging. Doing what you want to do in a […]
Drones, drones everywhere!
Many enthusiasts young and old enjoy operating small drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). At the end of 2017, Bard College Center for the Study of the Drone estimated that there were over 836,000 hobbyist users in the US. Recreational drones are now everywhere and probably not going away anytime soon. Any UAV between 0.55lbs […]
A License Plate to Remember Part 2—Your Comments: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #492
The National Motorists Association received some thoughtful comments from readers like you and thought we should share them. If you missed reading Part 1, click HERE. Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the author. I enjoyed reading today’s NMA Weekly E-Newsletter. Another topic that has hit several people I have worked […]
Report from The Future of the Automobile Conference held at the Petersen Museum, Los Angeles, May 3, 2018
I volunteered to attend The Future of the Automobile Conference, sponsored by the Petersen Automotive Museum and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, so that I could report to NMA on what technological and political schemes are being cooked up for drivers. I walked in bright and early to avoid Los Angeles’s notorious traffic congestion. […]
Another week, another leak
Two weeks in a row, I wrote about surveillance of drivers and only to learn hours later that the problem was even worse than I thought. Last week we learned cell phone spy LocationSmart didn’t require authentication to use its tracking API. Anybody in the world could track you. During the rise of Facebook somebody […]
TheNewspaper.com Roundup: May 21, 2018
In this week’s TheNewspaper.com Roundup! –NTSB examines school bus fatalities– –Traffic school has no safety benefit– –TX AG says no more public money for toll roads– Friday, May 18, 2018 NTSB Investigation Examines Preventable School Bus Fatalities The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will meet Tuesday to discuss a pair of tragic school bus accidents […]
The Court Stands Up For Motorists: NMA Weekly E-Newsletter #488
“Few protections are as essential to individual liberty as the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Framers made that right explicit in the Bill of Rights following their experience with the indignities and invasions of privacy wrought by ‘general warrants and warrantless searches that had so alienated the colonists and had […]
A one way street
A lot of news came out shortly after I wrote about a town’s plan to deploy cell phone trackers to keep nonresidents out. The New York Times told me it was even easier than I thought. Instead of buying hardware, police can use an online tracking service. A tracking service vulnerable to hackers, according to […]
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 […]