by
Eric Peters
EricPetersAutos.com

You know that
“check engine” light on your dashboard? What if instead
of just telling you that the carÂ’s computer has detected
some fault with the emissions control system, it told the government
– via roadside readers and satellite uplinks?

ItÂ’s called
OBD III – and it’s right around the corner.

All new cars
builtsince the mid-1990s have OBD II – or On Board Diagnostics
II. This system standardized diagnostics by specifying that every
new car come equipped with an OBD port (usually located somewhere
near the driverÂ’s side kick panel, on the underside of the
dashboard) into which a technician (and your stateÂ’s emissions
test station) can plug a scanner that downloads stored “trouble
codes.” It is these trouble codes that also trigger the yellow
“check engine” malfunction indicator light on your dash.

Mostly, these
codes involve problems with the emissions control system rather
than the engine itself. TheyÂ’re often intermittent and minor.
This is why itÂ’s possible to continue driving the car with
the “check engine” light on and everything still seems
ok.

And itÂ’s
why the Power That Be want OBD III.

In the words
of the Specialty
Equipment ManufacturerÂ’s Association (SEMA), the vast umbrella
organization representing automotive industry parts and equipment
suppliers, OBD III is “A program to minimize the delay between
detection of an emissions malfunction by the OBD-II system and repair
of the vehicle.”

And how will
that be accomplished? Rather than merely store trouble codes,
OBDII will immediately transmit those trouble codes to The
Man – who will then proceed to first warn you (via letter or
e-mail) to have the car repaired, stepping up to more aggressive
enforcement if you fail to do so in the form of “citations…
court and/or DMV penalty at next registration.”

It would also
be possible to send the info directly to any nearby cop, who would
then pull you over immediately – saving the government some
time while making some more money off motorists.

This is not
sci-fi. ItÂ’s impending reality. All the technical issues have
been solved. Most new cars already come with GPS systems capable
of receiving and sending data. It would be a simple matter to salt
the roads with scanners capable of IDÂ’ing every car that passes
by, automatically establishing a communications link with your carÂ’s
computer. This would occur continuously and constantly, too –
not just every once-in-a-while. OBD III as envisioned would literally
make it possible to constantly monitor and record every vehicle
so equipped, from the moment it left the driveway to the moment
it returned at night.

Here it is,
straight from the horse’s mouth – the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) which sets the trend for what inevitably becomes national
when it comes to emissions rigmarole:

“If the
inspection process could be automated through the use of transponder-assisted
on-board diagnostic systems (in what could become an OBD-III
requirement or program), the process could be made less costly and
time-consuming.. ” (Italics added.)

If it comes
to pass, OBD III will be the keystone that assures the end of any
expectation of privacy behind the wheel (in addition to everywhere
else) and it will also obviate the quaint notion that itÂ’s
your car – and hence, private property. Hence,
hands off. SEMAÂ’s fact sheet about OBD III notes this directly,
stating that OBD III would impose what amounts to “sanctions
based on ‘suspicionless mass surveillance’ of private
property” and would also be “random,” with the actual
monitoring taking place before the computer throws any codes
– and so, bereft of probable cause and thus a pretty
clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

But, the Fourth
Amendment is already a dead letter. It has been trumped – trampled
– numerous times, on the basis of generalized, potential
“threats” – everything from potential drunks (which
now means anyone who happens to be behind the wheel on a public
road) to potential polluters, whose cars might
be emitting more than the allowable maximum amount of fumes (or
even just CO2).

ThatÂ’s
how it will shake out, rest assured.

And it gets
better, too.

If it becomes
The Law that all new cars must be equipped with scannable OBD III,
then what about older cars without OBD at all?

Here is the
backdoor that will be used to effectively outlaw older cars, including
antique cars – but also just older late-model cars. They won’t
be prohibited outright, probably. Rather, they will be prohibited
from being used for everyday transportation. YouÂ’ll be allowed
to keep your pre-OBD III car. You just won’t be allowed to drive
it – except, perhaps, to the occasional old car show.

Or they may
just require that all pre-OBD III cars be “retired” after
a certain period – and then rendered inoperable by having their
engines filled with silica or some such, a la Cash for Clunkers.

In this way,
everyone will be forced into the system of mass control/mass surveillance.
It has been a source of frustration in certain quarters that itÂ’s
still possible for the average citizen to drive a car built before
catalytic converters and computers (and air bags and all the rest
of it) became mandatory or de facto mandatory. There are
dangerous asocial types out there who prefer such cars, which are
paid-for, simpler and can often be kept running for years for next
to nothing. That annoys both the TPTB – and probably also the
car industry, which wants you in a new car, not a paid-for
older car. The big combines will be among the most ardent proponents
not merely of OBD III – but that cars without OBD III be “retired.”

The same arguments
used to justify all the other gang bangs of the Fourth Amendment
will be trotted out: We must protect the “safety” of the
public – a public that increasingly becomes supine and moist
at the mere mention of the Pavlovian cue word, safety.

And it will
be impossible to argue against, because the essential argument has
already been conceded. We have no individual rights worth discussing
– and hence, no rights to either privacy or property that may
not be set aside at any moment by some broadly asserted collective
interest – as defined by the small minority that operates the
collective.

When I was
kid in the Â’70s I liked the rock band, Rush. One song in particular,
titled Red Barchetta – in honor of one of the first
Ferrari street cars. The song was about a bleak future time, after
a Motor Law banning private cars had been passed.

That future
is just about here, unfortunately.

Reprinted
with permission from EricPetersAutos.com.

February
3, 2012

Eric Peters
[send him mail] is an automotive
columnist and author of Automotive
Atrocities and Road Hogs (2011). Visit his
website.

Copyright
© 2012 Eric Peters

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