Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you

[hunter]

20. Yeah, but in the past there was no automated equipment sucking up all the data...

... and stashing it away in a giant easily searched database.

When I started driving states weren't even talking to one another or insurance companies about simple traffic tickets.

You could also cross the border into and out of Mexico without a license plate scan.

Law enforcement let a lot of petty stuff pass by simply because the system was not automated. They'd have to radio in a license plate number, the local police clerk would have to look the number up in a paper book which only included the worst out-of-state suspects and was outdated the moment it was delivered, and all that fuss was simply too much bother for minor traffic offenses, much less for tracking anyone.

I've always hated automobiles. The "freedom" they offer is an illusion. They trap people into an economic system that is becoming increasingly "papers please" fascist, and the worrisome aspect of this is that people seem to be unaware that the devices they supposedly own are quietly reporting their activities to unknown authorities and commercial interests.

The way our current cell phone system works is equally insidious.