Your E-Z Pass is tracking you all over NYC!

Lifted

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2004
5,748
2
0
Thanks!

Now I guess we know what these are all about.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=35116679

In the video you could see his alarm going off at intersections, and these things are always pointed down towards the intersection just like in the pic in the above thread.

I think their reasoning behind this is a bit suspect since there are easier ways to monitor traffic, though I guess it's possible they thought RFID would pose the least risk of harmful effects.
 
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John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
618
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That's most likely what that is. They do have a ISP that uses antennas on top of light poles though.
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Yup, that's an E-ZPass scanner. You can kinda see the company logo, same position as this one:

article-0-0D12590A00000578-667_634x349.jpg
 

MagickMan

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2008
7,460
3
76
Of course it is. They're tracking your movement habits, making logs about where you go and when. Welcome, Big Brother loves you.
 

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
1
0
Why is anyone surprised? And no, this isn't the NSA or the government. Its companies tacking you, not different then Google, you then sell this information for great cost.

Mass data mining and analysis is done to predict patterns. Where do you shop? Where are you likely to go? where do you eat? all this information is very valuable to companies.
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,370
741
126
SMDH. Had I know, i would have paid cash at the toll booth driving into NYC today. :(
 

funboy6942

Lifer
Nov 13, 2001
15,361
416
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They gather your driving habits for study and Im willing to bet they sell off the info to companies to ad target you based on where you go. Plus Big brother will know where youre at, where you been, at all times.
 

PottedMeat

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
12,363
475
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The E‑ZPass transponder works by listening for a signal broadcast by the reader stationed at the toll booth. This 915 MHz signal is sent at 500 kbit/s using the TDM (formerly IAG) protocol in 256‑bit packets. Transponders use active Type II read/write technology. In April of 2013, Kapsch (purchasers of Mark IV Industries) made the protocol available to all interested parties royalty free in perpetuity and is also granting the right to sublicense the protocol

wonder if you could just overpower the non toll ones with 915MHz noise. or swamp it with false data
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,208
9,700
126
Why is anyone surprised? And no, this isn't the NSA or the government. Its companies tacking you, not different then Google, you then sell this information for great cost.

Mass data mining and analysis is done to predict patterns. Where do you shop? Where are you likely to go? where do you eat? all this information is very valuable to companies.

Yes it is the government... and the companies. What the companies have, the government has, not quite as much in the other direction, but it's only a matter of time. They're government installed.

I don't have ezpass, and I'll never have ezpass. Anyone who didn't see this abuse coming is blind. You can probably find some of the blind if you search the forum. I seem to remember it coming up here before when I said ezpass are tracking devices.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,208
9,700
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They claimed it was for traffic analysis.

If anyone from the government claimed the sky was blue, I'd look out the window to make sure. If technology can abused, someone will abuse it. Programs started with the most honest intentions will be used for malicious purposes eventually, and it'll be done for your protection of course.
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
5,755
23
81
Hope you don't use credit cards, because then not only is your location being tracked but so are your spending habits...
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,208
9,700
126
Hope you don't use credit cards, because then not only is your location being tracked but so are your spending habits...

I haven't for the last 4 years or so. I like it, and may give them up permanently.

Credit cards aren't as pervasive as ezpass could be. Ezpass gives real time updates of your movements and location. Credit cards only give periodic spot checks, and even someone who uses them for everything will only give up widely spaced snapshots of their location.
 

Triumph

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,031
14
81
Privacy as we know it will be dead within a generation. Apathy amongst the younger set concerning this topic is rampant. They've been raised to be ok with not only being tracked in all aspects of their life, but in willingly offering up this information. What's the percentage of facebook profiles that are completely open? I'd guess probably 50%. Soon all the old fuddy duddies will be dead and the kids raised like this will be in control. You will see little to no opposition to things like the NSA wiretapping. It won't even be an issue that registers on the central Congressional computers that track in real time the keystrokes of US subjects' phones.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,208
9,700
126
You're cell phone does a much better job of tracking you.

That would be terrifying. My cell phone's been in a drawer with battery out for over two years now, and it never had my name connected to it. If it's still tracking me, the government and corporations are much more advanced than I gave them credit for.