Now it turns out this is a slightly over-dramatic first sentence to the Guardian article.

The prime motive behind the concept of every car including a little black box is to keep traffic running smoothly (drivers can be warned of hold-ups and accident blackspots due to black ice, for instance), and there are other benefits too – traffic lights could automatically change as you approached them, you could be warned if an ambulance was heading your way, a parking space could be reserved at your chosen destination as you approached.

The end result of all this should be traffic moving more smoothly and fewer accidents.

But the fact remains that the Government and police would be able to pinpoint not only where our cars are but also where they’ve been. Tie that in with mobile phone records, and it becomes not just the car that’s tracked but us, the British (and European, as this is a Europe-wide measure) population.

We’re all used to having our privacy invaded, but even with the benefits of reduced accidents (and deaths) and quicker journey times, surely this is a step too far? The current set of European governments may be quite benign, but you don’t have to look too far back in history to find totalitarian states and dictatorships in Italy, Germany and Russia.

If we put black boxes in every car, and match that with a network of masts and satellites to track our move, we’re giving a weapon of awesome power to those who want to mis-use it. Sure, it will probably never happen in our lifetimes, but the world is a very strange place.

We should put some protective measures in place to make sure it’s never easy to take control of our lives, and I for one don’t want my every move – however dull – to be tracked.