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Cars that are being tracked by satellite?

Black boxes that record your speed, distance travelled and the time and direction of your journey?

The Department of Transport looking at ways that private sector organisations can use the data for road pricing schemes?

WAKE UP!

We have been telling you for months (click HERE for a perfect example from December 2005) that the Big Brother state is upon you and you aren't doing anything about it are you?

Be honest...What will you do to stop this? What are you going to do tomorrow to let everybody know that this is both a total invasion of privacy and basically the ushering in of the Big Brother state?

Will you phone a friend? Tell a web forum? Forget about it as soon as you have finished reading about it?

Or will you contact your MP? Your local newspaper? The national press? Will you phone everybody that you know and explain the situation and tell them to boycott all and any insurance companies until they are forced to stop this terrible plan? Are they going to put everybody in the country through the court system to collect fines for not having insurance or will they simply back down? Think about it!

Will you do ANYTHING?

Before you know it they will know who you are, where you are, where you are going, at what speed, who you will be with when you get there, what you buy, who you vote for, what you want, what you think and what you feel.

They used to reserve the pleasure of this kind of technology for criminals who had been "tagged". When they first began doing it there were major reservations about the human rights issues involved...Now they are going to do it to people that AREN'T even criminals.

How many times do we have to tell you that if you let them do something to one section of society then there is nothing to stop them and nobody to speak up for you when they want to do it to everybody else.

They are not going to stop unless you stop them.

They bring in new pieces of Big Brother equipment and legislation every day. Bit by bit, piece by piece the national surveillance network is being built and it is being done in front of your very eyes.

Each small piece is a little bigger and more insidious than the last but they get away with it because you are all being conditioned to it.

If, 25 years ago, somebody had turned around and said that satellites would monitor you as drive your car, keeping records of all the data and then passing it on to the Department of Transport who would then, in turn, sell the information to private sector organisations then we would all have had a good laugh at the crazy conspiracy theorist in the corner.

NOw they make it public information and it doesn't even get into the national press.

Want a suggestion...Go to the house next door to yours, knock on the door and introduce yourself as the person that lives at number whatever and ask them if they would be interested in hearing about a system that the government is planning on allowing the use of that will track peoples journeys wherever they go and see what they say...

If they say no then thank them for their time and go to the next house.

If they say yes then explain this technology to them and the sheep's clothing of insurance premium reduction that it is being dressed in and ask them to do the same as you and take the odd numbers in the street. Try to get them to "recruit" new volunteers too and then break the village down into streets and take a handful each...

Trust me, it is a liberating experience and you may well be surprised at what happens.

What have you got to lose? Nothing but a couple of hours of your time.

What have you got to gain? The freedom and liberty that World Wars were fought for.

Wednesday 10th May 2006 | vnunet.com

Norwich Union is planning a major increase in its Pay As You Drive car insurance trials, after purchasing more satellite tracking systems.

The insurance company is testing the in-car tracking system with 5,000 drivers aged between 18 and 21 years, and has now purchased a further 35,000 telematic devices from IT supplier Trafficmaster.

The trial is to be extended to include 18 to 65 year olds. Drivers involved in the trial will have black-box devices installed in their vehicles, using global positioning systems to calculate insurance premiums based on how frequently and where they drive.

˜By increasing the number of boxes in our pilot, we will have additional data to help ensure that future Pay As You Drive insurance propositions are best suited to British motorists,' said Simon Machell, chief executive of Norwich Union Insurance.

If driver trials prove successful, Norwich Union may decide to launch a usage-based insurance scheme, which takes into account whether people drive at peak times or on accident black-spot roads.

By traveling on less risky roads and at quieter times, motorists could reduce insurance premiums and receive charges on a monthly basis.

The pilot has recorded more than 42 million miles of data from 10 million journeys and is helping Norwich Union more accurately assess insurance risks.

Results of the trial “which first began in 2004“ also show that participants are driving 2,500 miles less than the yearly national average.

A spokesman for Norwich Union told Computing that the scheme may also act as an incentive for motorists to rely less on their vehicles when travelling short distances to the shops or taking children to school.

˜At this stage it's a pilot. We need to get a stronger understanding for Pay As You Drive and the data we collect before launching the product,' he said.

The Department for Transport is also looking at the use of car tracking systems by private sector organisations to see if it can be incorporated into a national road pricing scheme.