Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 17:06:33 -0800
From: Phil Agre <pagre@ucsd.edu>
To: risks@csl.sri.com
Subject: Intelligent Transportation Systems

Risks readers have probably heard about Intelligent Transportation Systems
(until recently called Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems).  At least 
in the United States, it's a joint industry-government highway automation
program which envisions employing massive amounts of computing and
networking to distribute traffic information, collect tolls, and eventually
automate driving altogether.  You can probably imagine most of the Risks.
(See also previous articles and debate in Risks Digest 15.35 and 15.41, and
Privacy Digest 2.34.)

Industry (through a non-profit organization called ITS America) and the US 
government (through the Department of Transportation) have been developing
what they call an "architecture" -- not a set of technical standards, 
just some basic decisions about how ITS will work and how the pieces 
will fit together.  This is a pretty political activity, since different
companies have interests in defining the technology to correspond to their
own strengths.  A wide variety of risks, including privacy risks, are
definitely being taken into consideration, but it still remains to be seen
how substantively.  In particular, it remains to be seen whether privacy
will be provided for simply through data security (which is important but
isn't nearly the same thing as privacy) or by making users' anonymity a
core principle of the architecture (for example, through cryptography-based
schemes like digital cash).

The process has gotten pretty advanced, and I'm told that a new round 
of reports on it will soon be issued, though I don't yet have the details.
What I do know is that the ITS AMERICA FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING AND EXPOSITION
will be held in Washington on 15-17 March 1995 at the Sheraton-Washington
Hotel.  Perhaps most importantly, ITS America technical committees will be
meeting at this conference, and I gather from the conference program that
these meetings will be open to all conference attendees.  These committees
are important because, once technical standards are set, it'll be difficult
if not impossible to change ITS in any fundamental way because actual
systems will begin proliferating that depend on the standards, thereby
creating a large and well-organized interest group.

That's why you might wish to do a bit of homework (such as checking whether
your local university library has the proceedings of previous years' IVHS
America conferences), attend this conference, participate (politely, of
course) in the technical committee meetings, see for yourself if you think
the process is being conducted responsibly, and report back to the net
community.

The address I have here for conference registration is: Registrar, ITS
America, 400 Virginia Avenue SW Suite 800, Washington DC 20024-2730, phone
(202) 484-4847 fax (202) 484-3483.  The early registration deadline is
13 February 1995.

Phil Agre, UCSD