Big Government Begins to Take Control of Our Cars

Big Government gets its grasping hands into everything — even our cars:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, published last week an “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” on “vehicle-to-vehicle communications.” …

In announcing its proposed rulemaking, NHTSA is stressing its intention to protect the “privacy” of American drivers.

Uh oh. When an Orwellian government vows to protect privacy, that means you are being spied on, regardless of assurances to the contrary.

The idea is to allow Big Government to communicate with your car via Basic Safety Messages.

The “Basic Safety Message” will be broadcast by the vehicle’s dedicated short-range communications system. According to NHTSA, this system will need to transmit certain specific information.

“For example,” says the technical report, “when a DSRC [dedicated short range communication] unit sends out a BSM, the BSM needs to: Contain the relevant elements and describe them accurately (e.g., vehicle speed; GPS position; vehicle heading; DSRC message ID, etc.).”

Bureaucrats will know where you are, where you are headed, and how fast you are going at any given moment.

Information is power; absolute power can only be achieved when our overlords know absolutely everything about us.

But NHTSA does not envision that the use of this type of technology will stop there.

The agency has published a “Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles.” This statement describes V2V as part of a “continuum” leading to fully automated vehicles.

Big Government doesn’t let you spend your own money; why would it let you drive your own car?

Bureaucrats know best. Just sit back and they will take you where it is best for you to go.

On a tip from Stormfax. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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