Total Surveillance: In UK, CCTV cameras to prevent uninsured motorists from gassing up

This sort of thing makes us uneasy. The Mirror:

Cameras at petrol stations will automatically stop uninsured or untaxed vehicles from being filled with fuel, under new government plans.

Downing Street officials hope the hi-tech system will crack down on the 1.4million motorists who drive without insurance.

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are already fitted in thousands of petrol station forecourts.

Drivers can only fill their cars with fuel once the camera has captured and logged the vehicle’s number plate.

Currently the system is designed to deter motorists from driving off without paying for petrol.

But under the new plans, the cameras will automatically cross-refererence with the DVLA’s huge database.

When a car is flagged as being uninsured or untaxed, the system will prevent the fuel pump being used on that vehicle.

Governments like to present taxation issues as “for your own good” issues. In this case, it’s all about ‘safety,’ but gosh, look at the beneficial side-effect. There is very little real freedom, and even less privacy, in the total information society.