Brit License Plates Get Chipped

WiredNews reports on the growing desire by governments to use RFID tags to help identify (and track?) automobiles on the public roads:

The British government is preparing to test new high-tech license plates containing microchips capable of transmitting unique vehicle identification numbers and other data to readers more than 300 feet away.

Officials in the United States say they'll be closely watching the British trial as they contemplate initiating their own tests of the plates, which incorporate radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags to make vehicles electronically trackable.

Such efforts dramatically change the norms of the flow of personal information in the context of highway travel, which I've written about here.

Technorati tag: privacy