Chip Embedded License Plate - Another people burdening monopoly in the making?

Blogger Syed Akbar Ali alert in his latest posting "New Scandal ? More Burden For Rakyat?" caught my attention.

Excerpts: Changes are being proposed to the Road Transportation Act (the Pengangkutan thingy) whereby all owners of registered motor vehicles will be required to buy new car license number plates. The new number plates will have some computer chip in it (to make the Government's job easier I suppose).

..Hmm, License Plate with embedded electronic chips? We already have chips embedded in our International passports and Identity Cards and ATM Bank cards and Credit cards and our Touch n Go cards. Do we Malaysians really need another chip embedded in our license plate and be charged for it.

Here are some news I picked up on the net about chip embedded license plate mostly concerning privacy issues:

1. From the Washington Times (via thehighroad)...excerpts: A single RFID reader can identify dozens of vehicles fitted with e-plates moving at any speed at a distance of about 100 yards. The e-plate looks just like a standard plate, but it contains an embedded chip that cannot be seen or removed. It is self-powered with a battery life of up to 10 years.

"Police will be able to track your every move when you drive," said Liz McIntyre, an RFID expert and author of the forthcoming book, "Spychips: How Major Corporations and the Government Plan to Track Your Every Move With RFID" (Nelson Current, October 2005). "What if they put these readers at a mosque? They could tell who was inside at a worship service by which cars were in the parking lot." lots of privacy issues here.

2. From Wardsautoworld..Chips Raise Privacy Concerns

Anyway beside the related privacy issues, I agree with Blogger Syed Akbar Ali that the Government should stop catering to harebrained proposal like chip embedded license plate that does not in any way help us progress to develop world status. The PDRM and the JPJ, I think, already have interlinked computer database which can be accessed online by them, so what is the point of having a high tech plate..I am totally unconvinced by its use.

What's more if the Rakyat is forced "by law" to pay for something unnecessary to a private Government appointed monopoly, I think it is just ridiculous to force us to pay to make a few rich beyond their dreams. BN can be sure it will lose votes in the next GE and this time Tun Abdullah Badawi and KJ is not a convenient excuse.

I say enough of the monopolies already. The BN Government if they really want the majority to vote for them, they will have to work very hard for it, the RMK 10 is a damned good start BUT like the wasteful New Parliament proposal the BN Government must stop pandering to useless proposals for monopolies like the embedded chips licence plate which will make the minority rich richer and the majority poor poorer.