This fall, if all goes as planned, transportation officials will roll out a new electronic toll collection system on the Mass Turnpike as well as the Tobin Bridge and Harbor Tunnels.
Toll plazas along the pike will be replaced by sixteen scanning structures, called gantries. They are equipped with scanners to read EZ pass devices and cameras to take pictures of license plates for cars that are don't have those sensors. All this technology has raised concerns about privacy -- and pricing. Last week the Governor said there have to be changes in the pricing structure since there are fewer gantries than toll plazas. Transportation officials maintain all the changes are generally revenue neutral, and say the benefits will be tangible right away -- reduced congestion, less pollution, and fewer accidents at the current toll plazas. The target system start date is October 28th.
Kade Crockford (@onekade), Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU, and Peter Furth, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University discuss with Adam Reilly (@reillyadam).
The new approach to tolling comes with benefits and drawbacks. Furth says, "States all over the country are going with open road tolling and cashless payment." These new systems mean less delay, less congestion, and less accidents. Furth argues that the biggest benefits for the Bay State won't be environmental, but financial.
Crockford expressed restrained concern for privacy policy, "It's really not that difficult to implement commonsense privacy policy with this kind of system that restricts internal access, requires that accept in emergencies law enforcement has to get a warrant to get information about where you've been driving, and also imposes a reasonable retention period." Crockford is looking to MassDOT to implement internal policies and the legislature will adopt practices that will give people greater control over personal data.
Data security is a concern when it comes to the privatization of the gantry systems themselves. Crockford suggests that privacy can be built into the databases like documentation for database searches. "Lots of businesses that deal with large amounts of data already have these kinds of practices in place," says Crockford.
The state is using a "hot list" to allow tracking of automobiles associated with amber alerts or other emergency concerns. Crockford explains "We have a hundreds year old standard that works really great and that is called the fourth amendment. Under the fourth amendment, law enforcement needs to get a warrant to obtain sensitive information about people, accepted in limited emergencies." The tracker data will hopefully be dealt with like officials have dealt with cellphone data or license plate data. Furth says there are still benefits. He argues, "The opportunity for the future is to use pricing as a much better way of managing the supply demand mismatch, rather than congestion."
