More freedoms to be lost

Posted by guest blogger Locutisprime.

Today's headlines indicate that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has recommended "black boxes" be included into all new vehicles.

US mulls 'black box':

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Strickland told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the regulator is considering whether to make "black boxes" mandatory for all new vehicles. [ID:nN11246251]

The devices can capture data on speed, braking effort and other details which can be vital in reconstructing accidents.

Now....aside from the fact that this proposed regulatory imposition would add additional costs to vehicles, is this something that is really needed? Or is this just yet another example of an ever increasingly intrusive government?

I have never seen this level of intrusive legislation being put forth in my life time.  In just the past week we have seen senators Schumer and Graham proposing biometric ID cards to be required of all Americans. In addition, part of the proposed health care reform act includes similar provisions where biometric medical records are to be obtained and kept on all citizens. That has already begun via the HIPAA regulations that we allowed to be enacted several years ago.

For those who might question what is going on and what is next, look no further than the next step in the advance of the death of freedom in America.  That next step will be the micro chipping (RFID) of all commerce, consumables and commodities.

That's right, everything that is bought or sold or consumed will be chipped and registered into a data base and that will include who bought it, where it was sold and at what price.

Has anyone mentioned the chipping of people yet? That is on the way also. Along with the elimination of all paper currency and the complete transfer to digital currency.

And the benefits? Well for one thing, you won't have to file your taxes any more, that is for sure. As the government will have a moment by moment spreadsheet of your life at their finger tips and they will be able to summon up your entire life with a few mouse clicks or screen taps. So anytime they need a few extra billion? They will just reach into the data base and take it.

Doesn't that make everyone feel better?

Comments

[Morgan K Freeberg]

When I was young I was taught that blathering away about the communists taking over, was a sign of dementia.

It must be true. The older I get, the more signs I see that they are, and have been for awhile.

[Albert Woudenberg]

I suppose you have to ask yourself, do we want cars that automatically fine us for breaking traffic laws

anyone remember the movie The Fifth Element?

is this a breach of privacy and a government imposition or the ultimate form of efficient and cost effective traffic control?

[Locutisprime]

Once again Al, you make my case by your own supposition.

"is this a breach of privacy and a government imposition or the ultimate form of efficient and cost effective traffic control?"

Simply replace the word traffic with the word 'people' Al and you have your socialist answer.

On another note.....it has always been my observation, that there is no more pitiful sight, than the caged animal that once given the opportunity at freedom, is so cowed and terrified by the prospect of self determination and freedom? That it would rather remain a cowering shell of fear, than to risk venturing into the real world to provide for it's own sustenance and well being.

[Albert Woudenberg]

very well thought out point. i like it

but driving isn't a right, its a privilege granted by the law who at any point can take it away if enough regulations are broken.

I'm guessing that in your statement of removing the word traffic with people, you see this as a step towards just that, a police monitored state?

and if so, aren't you there already? I catch a minute or 2 of cops from time to time flipping through channels and i see a lot of police stopping people for random traffic violations and then said police essentially violate that persons civil liberties by asking non pertinent questions, searching their vehicle, and then arresting them when they find a minuscule quantity of a plant...

[Albert Woudenberg]

not that i agree with said monitoring of course.

[Locutisprime]

Al, you truly live in a purposely sheltered and obscured world don't you.

Your summation of watching television programs and forming your opinions of reality based upon them, is not that astonishing. There are millions like you on both sides of the border.

Each just as ill informed and oblivious to the reality of their own enslavement and dependence upon government as the next.

Take heart Al, you won't be alone when the wheels of socialist solidarity are spun wildly into our next global conflict. You will simply become the fodder trodden under by those wheels of supposed progress.

[Albert Woudenberg]

hey I'm just playing the dark side here, i don't endorse the use of information gathering or monitoring of citizens, i don't even like photo radar (the bastards got me last year) I just want to hear your thoughts on the matter, not your opinions of me

[Albert Woudenberg]

i'm here mainly to figure out where i stand in this world and how to best spend my next vote and honestly, instead of answered questions making me see the conservative side of the story all I'm getting is attacks on my character and confirmation of what i keep hearing left talk about being the Republican agenda of idiocracy
that being said how about we stop the name calling and start conversing

[Locutisprime]

My thoughts on the matter? Relatively simple I am afraid. Much like those of one of our great statesman Benjamin Franklin.

"Those who would trade freedom for security, deserve neither."

[Locutisprime]

Name calling? There hasn't been any name calling. As for attempting to figure out where you stand? And how to best spend your next vote? Please don't pretend to be so obtuse.

[Albert Woudenberg]

didn't i just ask for the name calling to stop?

and as for that quote from old Ben, it answered nothing.

you don't have a "right" to speed, blow through stop lights and signs, and generally be a danger on the road. All I want is an actual answer to a question. How is this a loss of freedom, your still allowed to eat chips and drink coffee, pet your dog and get a hummer while your driving with a device monitoring your speed and such, heck onstar already does all this, as do other devices installed in vehicles by parents and employers.

this isn't a security measure infringing on a right. It does however step on personal privacy which I don't like. It's nobodies business how hard i brake or accelerate. Or if i spent a full 3 seconds stopped at that stop sign.

[Locutisprime]

I have an idea Albert.....Why don't you just carry on your small conversation with yourself. Sort of like a sock puppet.

As in "Talk to the hand."

You apparently aren't interested in either reasonable discourse or even a simple round of banter or repartee. As it seems you are more concerned with fostering red herring arguments and ad hominem attacks.

[Albert Woudenberg]

umm, you just used two examples of what you are doing directly to me to describe what I'm doin....but am not

fail

[Tom Osborne]

It was the state that foisted upon us that concept of "driving is a (state-granted) privilege, not a right" and people accept it as a truth, because that's what they are told. However, is that really true? I wonder how long after cars were invented (by private enterprise) that the state decided to get involved, to see if they could control it. Surely horse and buggies didn't require licenses. Yeah, yeah, sure, we supposedly "need" a traffic system of controls or else people would run rampant all over each other like bumper cars in an amusement park, because (as the state says), humans are all fundamentally stupid, selfish, and out of control, right? Well, actually, no. You take a city like Los Angeles that now has half again more cars on the road than the roads were ever designed for, and you would begin to realize that the city has an amazing dearth of accidents, all considering. And this has nothing to do with police monitoring...the police would be utterly helpless without willing cooperation from the vast majority of the people. The truth is that the bulk of the people drive carefully and safely because it is in their own interest to do so, and they are fully capable of it. The final conclusion is that we do NOT need government regulation, monitoring, and control, and black spy boxes in our cars are an abomination. The next step is to put one in your colon to make sure that you were eating a proper diet...the perfect adjunct to Obamacare.

[Albert Woudenberg]

Interesting point, it's true that the vast majority of us drive like civilized people, using due care and caution. I too am sure I wouldn't want a black box in my butt. Like it or not though the state has the power to take your license from you and then slap you with fines and or jail time for driving without one. Something I'm sure many of us have done anyway (gotta get to work somehow amirite) I don't ever recall hearing a stink from pilots when black boxes were installed in aircraft though. Is this due to the inherent difference between aircraft being mostly a public form of transportation with a small number of private craft vs the largely opposite demographic in vehicles? and if so, wouldn't the government first mandate these monitoring devices in public vehicles like Buses? thus sneaking them under the noses of the people?