Spying bicycles let police know who and where you are (Updated)
image credit: Huffington Post
Can you recall when your parents bought your first bicycle? Can you recall how thrilled you were when you didn't need training wheels?
Those were great memories right?
Now imagine a future, where parents are forced to buy a bicycle that uploads all your kids data to an NASA spy satellite that knows exactly where they are are at all times.
This can't be real, I'm joking right?
Sadly, this is not a joke.
Tomes Software, is working with the Ford motor company to develop a device that will alert vehicles that a cyclist is close to you and vice-versa. The company claims, their device will cut down on bicycle, vehicle collisions.
A recent article in the Detroit Free Press reveals, that Tomes is working with Ford, Trek and NASA to develop bicycles that collect and transmit all kinds of personal data. (Click here to learn more about NASA spy satellites.)
"For the next year, Tome will be working at the Mcity autonomous vehicle test site on the University of Michigan's North Campus to develop software that can go into bike and car accessories and apps."
An article in Crains Detroit, reveals that Ford and Tomes are working together to make spying bicycles a reality.
"Ford Global unveiled two prototypes of electric bicycles at the Mobile World Congress in March. One, called the MoDe:Me, was built by Los Angeles-based Dahon, the world's largest maker of folding bikes. Both electric bikes were embedded with sensors and software designed by Tome Inc. and connected to the Web to tell riders when they should turn left or right to get to their destination."
Bill Coughlin president and CEO of Ford Global Technologies said, "he is working with Tome on another project called Info Cycle, which will be a small sensors-based kit that will attach to a bike and wirelessly collect and transmit a wide range of data, such as wheel speed, acceleration and altitude."
image credit: Ford Motor Co.
Info Cycle? Let's call it what it really is, it is a Spycycle!
The next thing these companies will tell you, is that all the information they collect is anonymized.
But is that really the case?
Any bicycle that transmits your location to government light posts or Bluetooth readers can be used to identify you.
Bluetooth readers can be used to identify everyone and they can track a bicyclists location, speed and altitude just like Tomes.
Just in case you need another reason not to trust them, the Ford Motor co., has a long history of working with law enforcement. Ford and law enforcement have been working together for nearly 100 years.
A Google search using 'Ford Motor Co., works closely with law enforcement' returned a staggering 22.6 million hits!
Police are also using Amazon and the GridSmart cloud to spy on bicyclists and pedestrians. (Click here to find out how the DOT is creating a nationwide database on everyone's Bluetooth devices.)
Updated 11/11:
Google and Waymo want bicycles and cars to spy on each other
Anthony Rowe, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Waymo want to make it possible for bikes to feed information to cars, now and in the fully autonomous future.
"What we're trying to do is put as much instrumentation on a bike as we can to see if we can predict how it's going to move in the future, so that it could, for example, signal a collision warning system on a car," he says.
"Rowe's bike was loaded with gear: the antenna of a GPS unit extended above his head in a long plastic tube, a laser range finder called a LIDAR measured the precise position of everything around the bike, four inertial measurement units captured motion, a water bottle held a battery, a computer collected all that information, and every other spoke carried a speedometer."
Tomes to be installed in new vehicles and bicycles
How long, before new vehicles and bicycles come equipped with Tomes?
An article in Nibletz warns, that Tomes will soon be installed in new vehicles.
Forcing automakers to install Tomes isn't about safety, it's about surveillance.
Corporations use their favorite catch phrase, 'public safety' to justify putting surveillance devices in new Trek bicycles and motor vehicles.
“Trek has a longstanding commitment to the development of solutions to enhance the safety of all cyclists,” said Eric Bjorling, brand manager for Trek .
Do you really want a bicycle that let's law enforcement know who and where you are?
The future of everyone's privacy is under attack and companies using 'public safety' to justify another way to spy on us, is morally repugnant.