So you want to buy a Prius...

Apparently, several states are considering a per-mile road usage tax (another link here) to fill the gap in fuel sales tax left by hybrid cars and their fuel efficiency. Oregon is the front-runner in this endeavor and appears to making good progress. Which is probably an oxymoron considering the privacy issues at stake. According to their FAQ page, the RUFTF has the following to say about using GPS:

Would a driver’s privacy be invaded by the mileage counting device placed in the vehicle?

Privacy issues are of great concern to the task force. No one has any desire to allow the government the ability to track the movement of vehicles, either concurrently or historically. The Road User Fee Task Force is looking at several devices to electronically calculate mileage and each of these devices can be configured in such a way that will not allow tracking of a car’s movements.

Will someone be able to track a vehicle’s location and movements if GPS devices are used?

No, a GPS device only knows where it is; no one else does. For anyone to be able to get data out of a GPS device, the device must be equipped with a transmission mechanism. Rental car companies outfit GPS devices with cellular transmission over a wide area so that the rental company can track the vehicle’s movements. The Road User Fee Task Force is exploring transmission via radio frequency and not cellular. A radio frequency signal travels only a few feet and the data transmitted would only be mileage data, not vehicle locations. There would be no capacity for the transmission of vehicle location for purposes of tracking movements. Specific location data would not be recorded, so it would not be available to transmit. Thus, no privacy issue exists.

I would agree that no one (except the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. military, hackers, police departments, terrorist groups, ) would want to be able to track the movement of vehicles.

I guess we better trust the government because seemingly innocuous systems have never been abused...