RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
Sept. 10 to Sept. 16
Featured Investigation
Technology has made speed, convenience and ease defining attributes of modern life. But it is also taking a great toll on personal privacy. And by "toll" we mean literally.
The rise of EZ Pass and other electronic tolling systems are making it easier than ever to zip over American roads. Nobody is pining for the good old days of waiting in toll booth lines or getting out of the car to retrieve that flung quarter that bounced off the rim of the basket.
But, as Erin Clark reports for RealClearInvestigations, no-cash tolling raises a range of concerns. While governments tout the ease of EZ Pass and systems like it, they are also effectively changing the rules of the road: To travel on many public highways, citizens must now provide toll agencies – read: the government -- with access to their bank accounts or credit cards for automated payment. She writes:
Motorists must also place a transponder in their car enabling the government to track their movements — or else be tracked by electronic license-plate readers. On top of that, there are worries that all-electronic tolling could become another way an increasingly tech-stratified society discriminates against the poor, despite discounts or accommodations made. …
And transponders track more than just toll stops: They are increasingly read here, there and everywhere to gather real-time data about driving conditions. Florida experimented as early as 2004 with monitoring transponders on highways, a program that Central Florida Expressway Authority Senior Communications Specialist Brian Hutchings said is now an “industry norm.” New York City has an even more intrusive system of microwave sensors and traffic cameras that gather real-time data about driving conditions.
Most drivers don’t even blink when considering the loss of a little bit of locational privacy in exchange for convenience, such as having Google Maps plot a detour around the worst of the late-afternoon traffic. Indeed, consumers have come to expect the personalized experiences enabled by data-gobbling smart tech, but are often unaware of the fine print of that tradeoff.
Other Noteworthy Articles and Series
Hillary Clinton's Adam Smith Tour
RealClearInvestigations
Hillary Clinton is getting raspberries from all sides for charging Springsteen prices for her book tour. But some industry experts say it looks like the free market at work.
Seven Days of Heroin
Cincinnati Enquirer
Packed courtrooms, police chases and repeated calls for help with possible overdoses are the consequences of rampant heroin use in Ohio and Kentucky. The Cincinnati Enquirer sent out a team of reporters, photographers and videographers to document what an ordinary week looks like in communities battling the opioid epidemic. In just one week, they found 180 overdoses.
Newly Released Clinton Emails Raise More National Security Issues
Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch released 1,617 new pages of documents from the State Department revealing more examples of classified information being transmitted through the unsecure account of Huma Abedin, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s aide, as well as many instances of Hillary Clinton donors receiving special favors.
Flynn Promoted Mideast Nuke-Power Plan While in White House
Wall Street Journal
During his brief time as President Trump's national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn promoted a controversial private-sector nuclear power project in the Middle East that had once involved Russian companies, according to people familiar with the effort. The activity is said to have continued even after NSC ethics advisers directed Flynn to remove himself from the project.
Antifa Rapid-Response Team Ready to Rumble
Reveal News
After an activist was killed in Charlottesville, Va., members of the radical movement Antifa formed an alliance of "Nazi hunters" to fight their enemies. The so-called Heather Heyer Brigade claims to defend minority communities from potential right-wing violence. But when members show up at alt-right rallies they are prepared to use violence themselves. "These radical strategies have played right into the alt-right's plan," this article says, "and led to a backlash."
How Government Almost Killed the Cocktail
Reason
When Americans repealed Prohibition, drinkers bellied up to bars for one of the few cocktails they remembered: an old fashioned. But the fruity punch they got would have been unrecognizable 20 years prior. Criminals had taken over bartending and destroyed pre-Prohibition cocktail culture. Stop romanticizing the speakeasy era, this boozy dive into history suggests. Even if you could order a bee's knees, the drinking life wasn't really the bee's knees.
Investigative Classics: Sheriff Joe Arpaio
East Bay Times
In a deeply partisan nation, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a Rorschach stick figure for many Americans – the anti-immigration Arizonan seen as either a sinner or saint. Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of Arizona’s East Valley Tribune explored Arpaio in a series of articles that won them the 2009 Pulitzer for local reporting.
