 You
do know that your
E-ZPass™
is getting read all over town, don't you? If you have one of the devices
hanging from your sun visor and think that the only thing tracking your
location is the tool booth plaza on the thruway, you might be in for
a big surprise once you build this
E-ZHack circuit for your E-ZPass™. Both Popular Science
and RF Cafe issue a caveat that making this modification might void
the warranty, cause it to stop working, be illegal, or include any combination
of the three. As presented in the January 2014 edition, this
modification will sound an audible alarm when the circuit detects that
your E-ZPass™ is being read. Per the article, "E-ZPass™ is a device
that drivers can buy in 15 states to zip through tollbooths across the
country, usually without stopping. More than 24 million tags - and growing
- exist in the U.S. alone. Each 'listens' for a wireless signal broadcast
by an electronic
 reader.
When that signal is strong enough, a tag draws power from an onboard
battery to broadcast its serial number back to the reader. The reader
then relays the information to a computer server to bill the customer
linked to the tag. Unbeknownst to most E-ZPass™ users, however, the
tags can be activated and read almost anywhere. Said a man who built
the E-ZHack, "I drove around [Manhattan] and realized, Wow, this is
being read everywhere!" Popular Science estimates the price to be around
$55, including $25 for an E-ZPass™ tag. The age of ubiquitous
tracking is solidly in place, whether the means be your cellphone, your
Wi-Fi connection to your portable device, the magnetic strips on your
credit cards and ATM cards, surveillance cameras, e-mail, phone calls,
even the photographing of every snail mail letter or package you send.
Later this year (2014) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will
be issuing its first set of regulations governing the use of
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) drones in civil airspace by private
and commercial entities, and those platforms can carry a multitude of
sensors - visible light and infrared, radio, audio, thermal. Your life
is being recorded and stored in massive databases. "Hey, I haven't done
anything wrong, so I'm not worried about it," you might say. Maybe not,
at least by today's standards, but what about 20 years from now when
you develop a medical malady and Big Bro health care reviews your life
history and notes a few activities you engaged in that have been determined
to be contributors to your problem, and a panel of "experts" decides
the price you pay is minimal or no treatment (maybe a pill for
the pain)? How about your car insurance increasing or being cancelled
because based on a trend exposed in your driving habits it is determined
that you present an increasing threat to society? You can always ride
a bus, I suppose, if that occurs. Are you prepared to explain to a committee
why five years ago your car happened to be spotted in a particular area
of town every day, even though the reason is utterly unrelated to their
business? Oh, I know, you place your comfort in knowing that government
entities never make mistakes and the wrong person is never convicted
or framed for some act of malfeasance. Something tells me that
until outlawed as are radar detectors in some states, the sale of identity
cloaking clothing, glasses, and accessories is going to increase markedly
in the next few years.
Posted January 2, 2014
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