Parking in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

The civil liberty issue has more to do with tracking/retaining data about you than just driving, imo.  So I don't think its enough to say that just because it effects people that drive means its automatically ok.  If the data retention policy is that it never leaves the local device and is never retained longer than is needed to enforce parking - it would obviously (again, imo) be ok.  As you get further and further from that it becomes less ok to me.

I also don't agree with the idea that "driving is a privilege and not a right".  For many people (and we may disagree on the exact makeup of this group of people, but I think everyone agrees it exists) driving is a necessity.   You can look at it similar to basic freedom.  It's a right that you have, but it can be taken away from you for the greater good of society when you do something 'wrong'.

Edit: I suppose one difference is that you need to 'earn' the ability to drive.  So maybe I should rephrase it as something like an "opportunity to drive" is a right.  But my fundamental point remains, that I don't think the Government should be able to do a bunch of things to drivers that we wouldn't accept in other situations.

If we have made driving a necessity in some places, that is our bad move as a society.  It should not make driving a right.  In fact, it should be our shameful failure that we've failed to accommodate other means.

This is of course and idealistic view, and in reality losing the ability to drive would be a substantial hardship for some in today's world.  However, far too many drivers have an entitlement view about driving.  As a result, people fight for, and the judicial system acquiesces to dangerous drivers continuing to be allowed to drive, people being allowed to park wherever, ticketing of those parked cars being demonized, etc..