Only Wonder Grasps Anything

NSA may know your calls, but the DOT will track you

Recently there's been a lot of talk in the news about the NSA database of phone calls where they're keeping track of what calls are made to where. Its technically legal (I think) but most folks don't like the idea of the NSA knowing who you call when. NPR ran a number of reports on this, and the BBC reports that a US spy agency 'has call database'.

However, this seems a small intrusion of privacy compare with where our transportation network is headed. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are a host of technologies designed to make our transportation network safer and more efficient. Many of these technologies can reduce highway fatalities and injuries, reduce travel times, and provide useful information on weather, construction, and roadway incidents to motorists. 511 is a nationwide system for free traffic, construction, and weather info--in states where its been implemented simply dial 511 and you'll hear a menu of informational choices. There are real benefits to these systems, such as reductions in fatalities, for which we can be thankful.

However, the goal of the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) is to have "intelligent highways", where your car communicates via wireless communications and GPS with other vehicles on the road and with the roadside infrastructure. Signs and guardrail could have wireless links and when a crash occurs 5 miles down the road the information is immediately sent back to all the cars, and the variable message signs overhead are updated to warn drivers. Cars may even automatically slow down when the warning is sent.

Part of that intelligent highway network would be a nationwide transportation database which would keep track of where each vehicle in the roadway network was driving, when it drove, how fast it went, etc. Because of the computers inside most vehicles, any information on the car computer could be transmitted to the national database, and they'd know if your tire pressure was low, if your winshield was cracked, or if your driving was irratic. This has the potential to make the roads much safer, as the cost of a huge loss of privacy.

The roads are public by their nature, and the court system has found a number of times that there is a reduced expectation of privacy on the roads. If its on the roads, its publically viewable, period.

Not only is the government pushing for these developments, but many of the auto-makers and transportation industry companies are heading that way. Its an assumed destination on the part of almost all the involved players.

All that is to say, big deal if the NSA knows who we're calling. The federal DOT is going to know when and where we drive. ITS coming...

catching up

My sister graduated from college on May 6th! She did a double major in music and history, and hopes to change the world by doing musicology. She's in good company, at least in Germany, where students rallied in support of the discipline of musicology (see below). She's looking for work for a year, and hopes to head to grad school after that.

On other fronts, I just ran in the King of the Mountain 4 mile road race this morning, and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful, a touch on the cool side, and the course looped through Point Park so we were able to view Chattanooga under the early Saturday morning sky. I ran better than I expected, and ran into a few other folks I know: Peter, Marshall, and Dr. M.

Work's been going well, but the inspection work has been a little slow, so I've had time to catch up on a lot of paperwork. I guess paperwork comes with just about any job in our 'paper-free' computer age.

fleeting greeting

I made a rushed trip to Lowes to get some tack strip for the carpet in my room (I'm making a long overdue repair to a section where the carpet padding got torn up), a bit of carpet trip for the edge of the carpet, and a bunch of paint chips.

My walls are gonna be a different color - one wall is unfinished drywall right now, and the rest is all off white. Problem is, the carpet is red- just a little bit darker than a primary red, and the room doesn't get tons of natural light because it doesn't have many windows. So I'll play with the chips and see what looks good.

Whatever color I choose needs to look good as a background for Pete Vaugh's artwork: a passage of Greek from John 14, woodburned on light colored wood.

On other fronts, we're still working toward making a new bedroom for Lars when she comes home from college a week from today. My grandparent's are moving into her bedroom for the summer, while their home is demolished and a new one built for them.