enthalpy

Monday, June 26, 2006


For years the best way to get around Houston's toll roads has been facilitated with the tiny transponders in your windshield, but suddenly, HCTRA has taken big brother off your windshield and put him in the driver's seat. How? By making new, permanently affixed RFID stickers mandatory:
No deposit. No monthly rental fee. No more rooting around in the glove box for that EZ Tag you left in the other car.

The Harris County Toll Road Authority's program to replace its battery-powered EZ Tag transponders with windshield stickers that do the same thing is being phased in quietly, but it's not exactly a secret. Although there was no announcement, the agency's Web page has details.
If this is such an improvement, then why the silent treatment? For those of us that don't like to be tracked when we drive on Houston's freeways, it comes as a great surprise that we can't leave our EZ tag at home and NOT be followed by the HCTRA. Now, it's not even an option. And it's not just on HCTRA roads where EZ tag drivers are being tracked. According to Houston Transtar they're tracking our every movement even when we're not paying a toll.

But hey, what's the worst that could happen? Why shouldn't some clock puncher at HCTRA know where you're going at all times? What have you got to hide?



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