Big Brother Will Shut Down Your Car

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The EU is considering the mandatory equipping of all cars sold in the union with devices, which would allow police to remotely disable engines, according to leaked documents.

According to RT if the plan goes as planned, European law enforcers will be able to stop fugitives, suspected criminals and even speeding drivers with a simple radio command from a control room. The technology is part of a six-year development plan by the ‘European Network of Law Enforcement Technologies’, or ENLETS, a working group for police cooperation across the EU, reports the Telegraph.

Remote control of car electronics is far from novel. A modern car is equipped with a network of microcomputers, which monitors and controls everything from ignition and flow of fuel to radio station being played. And increasingly cars can communicate wirelessly, a technology called telematics.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Giving police the ability to do the same to any car in the EU does not thrill some rights advocates who are cautious of giving the government yet more authority.

“We need to know if there is any evidence that this is a widespread problem. Let’s have some evidence that this is a problem, and then let’s have some guidelines on how this would be used,” Statewatch told the Telegraph.

Apart from that, there is a concern of possible hacker attacks, which could use the remote kill switch for nefarious ends. In March 2010 Texas police arrested a former car dealership employee, who used its car tracking and repossession system to disable some 100 vehicles in Austin in revenge for being laid-off.