Mini 'Driver Privacy' Glossary

ATIS - Advanced Traffic Information System - an IVHS prototype to be unveiled,
       as of this writingc at the 1995 IVHS America conference in Crystal City
       VA, and the Vehicle Navigation & Information Systems conf 1995
       (location unknown to me.)

AV, AVS - Autonomous Vehicle, Autonomous Vehicle Systems - Industrial-use
       robot cars and trucks.  Of little direct relation to driver privacy
       issues, but it is possible that aspects of standards that emerge from
       R & D in this area may be incorporated into larger IVHS
       specifications that will affect the general public.  AVS may also
       include sea, air and even space vehicles, including military machines.
       (Indeed, I suspect 99% of the industrial use is a trickle-down from
       military research. Industrial usage seems to focus on the handling
       of hazardous wastes, and publicly known military use is primarily 
       mine-sweeping.  It also appears that the "autonomy" is at present
       mostly remote control.

AVM - Automatic Vehicle Monitoring - pretty much just what it says. 
      Monitoring would be done to scan vehicles and automatically bill the
      owners for toll roads, etc.  The technology would doubtless also be
      used to auto-ticket anyone speeding, to track driver's movements and
      destinations, etc.  There are very serious privacy concerns with AVM.
      Additionally, the corporations and agencies involved in AVM are
      pushing the FCC to rule in their favor on a public bandwidth issue,
      to the detriment of many other businesses, industries, and
      individuals (the AVM producers, such as AirTouch, formerly Pacific
      Bell, are demanding that a segment of the public airwaves, already
      used for computer networks, PBX systems, headphones, speakers,
      security and alarm devices, micro-power broadcasters, and others, be
      devoted to AVM, more or less.  See ftp.eff.org,
      /pub/GII_NII/Wireless_cellular_radio/ for more info.
      AVM is also sometimes referred to as AVMS (Automatic Vehicle Monitoring
      Systems). The Wireless Opportunities Coalition refers to AVM as
      "20-year-old" and "inefficient and unnecessary" technology.  AVM cur-
      rently operates in the 902-928 MHz band, but the FCC's LMS plan would
      extend it's reach well into the bandwidth used by other wireless 
      services.

Driver[s'] privacy - umbrella category for issues including IVHS, govt. use,
       misuse, and release of driving records and other DMV information,
       and other privacy and surveillance concerns related to trasportation.
       May include issues such as cellular phone tracking and eavesdropping,
       but generally has less to do with communications issues, and more 
       to do with vehicle movement, bureacracy records, and enforcement 
       issues. A pretty new field of interest, but already the subject of two
       US Congress bills.

IHVS - Intelligent highway-vehicle systems.  Apparently incorrect alternate
       name for IVHS.  My trick for remembering them is that the right one,
       IVHS, sounds (as an acronym) more like it refers to video tape (which
       records data and can be used for surveillance, thus the roundabout
       mental link).

IVHS - Intelligent vehicle-highway systems.  Design paradigm for a new
       way of driving that will include head-mounted displays, windshields
       on which information is projected (a la sci-fi), global
       positioning, VR maneurvering guidance, and other wonders. 
       Privacy threats, however, can arise due not only to the possibilty
       of tracking via GPS, but also such factors as auto-billing for tolls
       or traffic offenses by remote & automated license-plate scanning,
       database sharing between agencies and other interests, surveillance
       via destination tracking, etc.  Both promising, and frightening
       technology.

ITS - Intelligent Transportation Systems - appears to be a synonym for IVHS,
      but used in a more general sense. Industry supporters of transport 
      informatics tend to prefer this term, while government pundits seem to 
      stick with IVHS.

LMS - Location and Monitoring Service - FCC's planned extension of AVM from
      it's home in the 902-928MHz band into a wider section of public
      bandwidth - a move destined to create interference with many other
      technologies, which in turn, many predict, would result in AVM/LMS being
      given the go-ahead to essentially control this bandwidth, to the
      detriment of other industries.
      
transport informatics - mostly European general term for various related 
      technologies and issue that have to do with "intelligent" vehicles 
      and road, motorist surveillance, automated digital toll collection, 
      etc.

To update this mini-glossary, send contributions of material to mech@eff.org.
Thx.