CDR: [OT] California senator tries to mandate remote kill switches for

[Trei, Peter]

The California legislature recently considered a law
(it apparently died in committee this year) which would 
mandate that all cars in the state be fitted with a device, 
which upon recieving an encrypted signal by laser or radio, 
would kill the engine. 

The apparent goal is to prevent car chases. 

The, bill, introduced by (State?) Senator Speier, is at 
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_2001-2050/sb_2004_bill_20000504_amend
ed_sen.html

There is substantial discussion at
http://www.technocrat.net/968678895/index_html

The bill requires that cars sold in the state after 2004 have the system, 
and cars registered after 2007 be retrofitted if neccessary.

It would be a crime to fail to fit or maintain it, or to bypass it.

It includes a provision to allow any peace officer to stop any
car at any time to inspect the system, without any mention
of warrants or probable cause.

I may write something for RISKS Digest about this.

Peter Trei