Copyright 2005 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
All Rights Reserved
Sunday Express

October 9, 2005 Sunday
Scottish Edition

SECTION: NEWS; 23

LENGTH: 376 words

HEADLINE: Road rage as Big Brother uses chips to spy on drivers

BYLINE: EXCLUSIVE By Mark Howarth

BODY:


HUMAN rights campaigners have reacted angrily to trials of Big Brother-style technology which can track motorists using microchips on registration plates.

Ministers have given the go-ahead to the controversial tests, in which inch-long bugs can communicate with roadside detectors.

Trials are being lined up on police cars, but, if successful, the technology could be made compulsory for all vehicles, backed by legislation banning the removal of the devices.

The Department of Transport has insisted the chips are merely part of a crackdown on car thieves.

But officials have refused to rule out using the high-tech system for a greater range of checks, including monitoring speed.

The move was criticised by human rights groups who fear the invention could have a harmful effect.

John Scott, of the Scottish Human Rights Centre in Glasgow, said: "It's difficult to object to the trials themselves but we should beware of this being the thin end of the wedge. No country in the world is subject to as much surveillance as the UK.

Dr Sean Gabb, of the Libertarian Alliance, said: "This is a blank cheque for a Big Brother state.

"This is about increasing the amount of money the public can be fined and it's about knowing where we are and when.

"Microchipped number plates are a ready-made means of control and a stealth tax."

Trials of the e-Plate microchip system have been several years in preparation. The technology works in a similar way to current Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, with the added advantage of being able to process 200 moving vehicles per second in all weather conditions.

Roadside detectors read information on the microchip, then confirm the details match the number plate on a central computer database.

The DVLA had planned to get the technology working by last year with a view to extending it to every vehicle by 2007. It also hoped to cut costs by using it to renew car tax electronically.

Holyrood Shadow Transport Minister Fergus Ewing said yesterday the Government would have to ensure the needs of motorists came first.

He added: "There have to be proper legal safeguards to protect the individual from the misuse of any information held in this way.

"But a plan like this to cut the levels of fraud and theft seems sensible."

GRAPHIC: TECHNOLOGY: The inch-long microchips could be fitted to every car's number plate by 2007
SENSIBLE IDEA: Fergus Ewing