[pp.int.general] Big Brother in NL?

[Ole Husgaard]

Reinier Bakels skrev:
> I wonder when the government will introduce a system to monitor
> cyclists. If you switch your mobile phone off, Big Brother can't
> follow you.
This is happening in Denmark right now, though officially it is to make
it easier to locate stolen bicycles, not to monitor cyclists.

Here bicycles are used a lot instead of cars, in particular in large
cites. A major reason for this is because of our good infrastructure for
bicycles: Most roads have special lanes for bicycles, and many traffic
lights have special lights for bicycles. So in the large cities it is
often both faster and a lot cheaper to go by bicycle than by car or
public transportation. Some major cities even have bicycle-based courier
services, as they often can deliver a lot faster than courier services
based on cars. This is IMHO good, both for the environment and for the
people who want to save our environment (or just want to move fast in
the city).

A proposed requirement that all bicycles must be equipped with RFID tags
met some opposition because of the privacy issues. Now a trial with
about 1000 bicycles in our capital has been started, and now Big Brother
hopes that some of the bicycles in the trial will be stolen and found
again, giving Big Brother the excuse he needs to require RFID tags on
all bicycles. The goal is a law that requires that all bicycles are
equipped with RFID tags.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.