IP: Can electronic tolls be a tool for Big Brother?

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Copyright, 1995, U.S. News & World Report All rights reserved.


U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT, OCTOBER 2, 1995


THE ROAD WORRIERS


CAN ELECTRONIC TOLLS BE A TOOL FOR BIG BROTHER?


Imagine driving from Maine to Maryland virtually nonstop, breezing through
hundreds of miles of turnpikes and bridges, never stopping at a tollbooth. This
traveler's dream is actually a step closer to reality. The governors of
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont agreed this month to
work toward setting up a multistate system of using ETC--electronic toll
collection.
   Under ETC, tolls would be electronically deducted on the fly, as they already
are in some states. Traffic congestion costs the nation about $100 billion in
lost productivity annually, so improving highway efficiency can be a boon. But
privacy advocates say ETC could turn highways into massive surveillance systems.
   ETC systems usually require drivers to lease or purchase some sort of
electronic device that automatically triggers sensors in toll plazas, which, in
turn, tell a highway-department computer to deduct the proper fee from the
driver's account. The crucial issue, says Phil Agre, communications professor at
the University of California at San Diego, ``is whether the systems capture
individually identifiable information''--that is, information that might
identify drivers. Besides raking in tolls, transportation departments also can
suck up tons of personal information about a traveler, including driver's
license data, license-plate number, destination, highway speed, vehicle
identification and time of day of travel.


ANONYMOUS?


Who controls this information? Will it be sold or merged into other databases
available to insurance companies, credit bureaus, marketers and law-enforcement
agencies? The opportunities for mischief are enormous, contends Marc Rotenberg,
director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. ``Anonymity
is the key to these systems,'' he says, adding that he'd prefer no data
collection at all. Indeed, privacy advocates say ETC billing should be as
anonymous as the coins tossed into tollbooths.
   The technology already exists for anonymous ETC. New Jersey's system is
``indifferent to your identity,'' says Commissioner of Transportation Frank J.
Wilson. And AT/Comm, a Massachusetts company, operates the North-South Tollway
west of Chicago, the largest ETC installation in the country, with over 200
lanes and more than 10,000 drivers billed electronically. The decentralized
system is organized not to pry into drivers' privacy, says spokesman Michael
Greenstein. Another ETC company, Dallas-based Amtech, can install systems using
digital cash, which would afford complete privacy.
   Electronic toll collection is clearly in its infancy, and state planners are
only now confronting privacy issues. Their decisions will turn emerging
intelligent highway systems into either models of privacy protection or
invitations for Big Brother to hitch a ride.


BY VIC SUSSMAN