Look out! Dispatches from the privacy front, part 6, we're not alone

From the Observer (UK) 'way back on December 23.

After speed cameras, road humps and mobile phone bans, there could be more bad news for Britain's motorists. Police are urging Ministers to give them the power to stop vehicles by remote control.

In what will be seen as yet another example of the increasing power of Big Brother, drivers face the prospect of their cars being halted by somebody pushing a button. ...

Stopping cars remotely sounds futuristic, but the basic technology is already available and used in lorries to limit the top speed to 56mph and in new systems to immobilise stolen cars. ...

Experts now believe the technology could start to be used voluntarily by the end of the decade and ultimately could be made mandatory.

The key difference between now and the projected then is that such controls are now emplaced and exercised by the owner of the car, not by an external authority. The potential for abuse of such a system controlled by police is on its face enormous. (Do you think, for example, the Miami police would have been above simply stopping the cars and buses of people attempting to come to the FTAA demonstrations last November? If you say yes, you have a hell of a lot more faith than I do.)

The article mentions other uses for the technology, such as setting maximum speeds which could even be adjusted to locality and weather conditions. The excuse, as always, is safety - but the result, as always, will be to increase government controls.

Wet Wimp Defense Award Dept.: Bert Morris, deputy director of the AA Motoring Trust, was quoted as saying

"People don't like the idea of Big Brother taking over their driving. In years to come that might be acceptable, but it's very, very important that there's a step-by-step approach."

Kind of like the frog in the hot water: Throw a frog into a pot of boiling water and it immediately will leap out relatively unharmed. Put it in a pot of room-temperature water and very slowly heat it and the frog will sit there adjusting to the change until it's boiled alive.

Footnote: Apparently, a similar technology was used by Formula One pit crews to adjust the engines of racing cars at up to 200mph until it was banned this year. Banned for race cars but okay for cops. Sure, why not?