| Author | Message | ||
     Seanp |
Hey all you Brits, I came across this article on a tech website, and wonder how real of a threat it is: http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/tracking-biker s-speed-smacks-of-big-brother I can think of numerous reasons why it might make things even more dangerous for motorcyclists. This is insanity... | ||
| Eboos |
I am not british, but my best guess is that this will never come to pass. This would be far too unsafe. | ||
| Rocketman |
This is several weeks, even months old over here. The test motorcycle was ridden by MCN UK and they found it to be dangerous in certain scenarios. Consequently MCN started to petition government with their readers support. Suffice to say we are told the government has consequently shelved the plan. Speed detection and surveillance cameras are the biggest problem we are facing. Rocket | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
Id be surprised if they didnt put more stringent limiters on vehicles. They have been doing it here in the US for awhile on some vehicles and on a more lax scale but its leading up to this. All from the crowd that wants to make us all safer among other things. We're all getting sick of it. | ||
| Mortarmanmike120 |
How depressing... even if this plan doesn't pan out due to technical or financial issues, I'm sure something else just as assinine will follow. It's only a matter of time before we live in a complete nanny state. | ||
| 12r |
Our nanny state fills our veins with milk and turns us into caring, sharing zombies. Pay-as-you-go road charging is the next f*ckwit scheme on the horizon  | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
What I understand the UK is already become like 1984... Cameras everywhere. That damn congestion charge. I am really starting to wonder when the revolution will come. | ||
| 12r |
Legitimate, law-abiding citizens are easy prey. We have licence plates, we pay our annual road tax, insurance, roadworthiness test and tax on fuel. Now we going to have to pay explicity for most every journey. And everywhere there are immigrants driving around in illegal vehicles - untaxed, uninsured and untraceable. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
It's not just bikes, it's a way of taxing & tracking ALL vehicles; See here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/ please don't sign if you're not a UK citizen/resident as we don't want the petition devalued. but if you are please do sign up. (Message edited by Mr_grumpy on January 16, 2007) | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Big Brother sales this crap by wrapping it in "This will make life easier" On Star, GPS in cell phones and the black box is on most new cars and thats just a few.......they are watching  I see you and your little dog too | ||
| Glitch |
I am really starting to wonder when the revolution will come. As soon as there is a leader will the balls enough to question authority and do something about it. Funny thing is all these people that are running things now are the same people that wanted revolution back in the 60s and 70s, remember "Question Authority", "Power to the People" and the like. Irony at it's best... | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
That's one of the reasons governments in so-called civilised countries like to legislate against older vehicles, it's not the anti pollution thing, it's business & taxation. With the all the modern cars with integrated gps/gsm it's just a question of software interface, & how do you know they're not already doing it? I won't buy any vehicle with an integrated system purely for that reason. I have a friend who works for the special vehicles division of Peugeot/Citroen he's a section head so he knows what he's talking about & he's told me what the capabilities are in the newer models, I've no reason to doubt him. Yes it's scary! | ||
| Spiderman |
 Remember, remember the 5th of November... | ||
| Bomber |
Glitch -- while I'm sure you're right in some cases (aboiut the same crowd running things now blowing dope in the 60s, if I may oversimplify)(grin) . . . . the "power to the people" and "question authority" crowd was truely a small minority, back in the 60s/early 70s . . . the vast majority of folks (including most, I'll wager, who now hold elected office) were made very nervous by the thought of any social shakeup it may be different in the UK, but the people who run things (elected officials and bureaucrats) tend to come from a fairly narrow strata of society -- indeed, often, they come fomr the same families (the Bush family is far from the first to have more than one family member serve as president, as you know) -- these tend to be folks that have much invested in the status quo (as mony of us here on this board do), and, therefor, tend NOT to rock the boat -- the "revolution," when it comes, will likely arise in an unlookedfor place -- the ACLU (much lambasted on this board) is one place that constantly fights for individual rights in this country -- the NRA is another, the AMA (bikers, not docs) is another the difficulty is that people only band together to make change when their own bull is gored -- sadly, most organizations large enough to swing a big bat are very narrowly focused on a single issue, paying little attention of other situations imagine what our lives as motorcycle riders would be like if the AMA weilded as much weight as the NRA -- | ||
| Glitch |
Yep you're right about the people running things are a narrow group, but they're still elected in. Man, you gotta come to MB-IV, we'd be up talkin all night! | ||
| Bomber |
I'm tryin, bud ;-} yep, elected is right -- exactly WHO votes for these chuckle heads, anyways (a refrain repeated all too often, no matter who runs, yes?) | ||
| Glitch |
I'm tryin, bud ;- } I'm holding space for you at the cabin, just to make it more difficult to say no.  a refrain repeated all too often, no matter who runs, yes? Yes | ||
| Bomber |
OOOOOOooooo -- GUILT! You MUST be a parent! ;-} | ||
| Glitch |
3 times a parent. I'm getting pretty good huh. | ||
| Bomber |
almost to Mom level! | ||
| Buellshyter |
V for Victory was actually written during Margaret Thatcher's reign but it seems so more relevant these days. Our newly elected pinhead Governor is talking about plastering cameras all over our state in the name of homeland security. What baloney !! | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
I think in any western society where the population is dense people throw common sense out of the window and start making laws to regulate every facet of daily life. In some of the worst citys in America you cannot carry a weapon on you to protect yourself in the one place your going to need it. Get out in the country and you can carry or own just about anything within reason. Grown men however, even freedom loving bless their hearts still vote for people like dianne feinstein and nancy pelosi...and hillary. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
Oh BTW, I just read about this today concerning New York gun owners: Eliot Spitzer is issuing an executive order expanding the COBIS (Combined Ballistic Identification System aka Ballistic Fingerprinting) to be expanded to include all pistols by the end of the year. Included will be all handguns currently owned in New York State with the responsibilities in Westchester, Suffolk, Nassau and New York Counties resting with their pistol licensing bureaus. All pistol license holders will be required to have all pistols submitted for COBIS testing or new permits will not be issued. All current pistol permit holders will also be required to pay the costs for all guns to be COBIS tested. An extra 1000 state will be hired to carry out his executive order and penalties for non compliance are to be determined. The executive order dealing with long guns will be signed and will be implemented by the end of the year as well. This will also require all guns entering New York State to be COBIS tested. Only your shotguns will be safe. They'll figure a way to test (register) those as well one day. COBIS testing may also run close to $50 per gun for previously owned guns. This should stop rampant crime in the big citys. | ||
| Buellshyter |
I was in Georgetown D.C. this morning and I was thinking the same thing Johnny - about how people in big cities are like tree hugging zombies. I watched one woman on a bicycle attempting to ride down the center lane in rush hour traffic. I thought to myself, why would anyone want to live here given other choices? I understand it's close to the action but it's just rediculous....the crime, the grime, the red light and speed cameras. The cost of a one bed condo starts at 600K... | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Forget the gov't, its not them that is installing these things. They are too busy chasing their own ass on other issues. It is the lawyers and the insurance companies and car builders. The black boxes are already on your new vehicles now. Esp if you have On Star. It doesn't creep you out that they can unlock your car remotely from a call center? A boon for repo men. The boxes are collecting speed, braking, integrated into GPS and will be used in court cases to assign liability for accidents. It is already happening. Concerned? Get a 78 Pinto, or 80 AMC Pacer, before they are all crushed. | ||
| Spiderman |
>>>>V for Victory was actually written during Margaret Thatcher's reign It's V for Vendetta. | ||
| Mortarmanmike120 |
C is for cookie, that's good enough for me... Once the full effect of government 'supervision' has been in place, it won't matter how old a car you drive. The government will eventually make it impossible to avoid the ubiquitous black box. Probably by raising taxes/registration fees to exhorborant levels for 'non-complient' vehicles. Did I mention, I'm depressed? | ||
| Buellshyter |
Duh is me....yea, V for Vendetta...I thought it was a great movie. Forget the gov't, its not them that is installing these things. They are too busy chasing their own ass on other issues It may not be the government installing these devices but they are all too happy to embrace the technology. I know Lockheed/Martin, which is responsible for the EZpass toll system, is working with car manufacturers in developing these systems which when fully developed will allow some future entities to monitor your vehicle whereabouts along with speed,etc - anywhere and anytime. If you can dream it there is a good chance someone is working on it. Currently, video technologies are being employed at our ports which require no human monitoring. The computer is given a set of parameters within certain boundaries and if there is a breach it notifies a person. Further enhancements to video surveillance, already in testing, allow the computer to look for certain facial gestures which may suggest a person is about to commit a crime. The computer scans a crowd not only looking for specific people but also for suspicious people. It's bad enough when people are in the loop but in the future we will be answering to machines. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
And in france the yuppy noveau riche kids are getting cash chips implanted in their fore arm so they dont have to be bothered with carrying a wallet down to the beach |
