Gov. Jerry Brown got an interesting award this week from an organization called the Information Technology & Innovative Foundation, which awarded Brown one of its annual “Luddite Awards” for his veto this year of a proposed bill that would have put radio frequency identification chips (RFIDs) on California driver’s licenses. 

The ITIF isn’t just some pro-technology organization that loves its gadgets and techno-geegaws. it’s a K Street firm in Washington D.C. that recently hosted the likes of Bruce Mehlman as a speaker, and lists him on their webpage as an “unaffiliated expert.” Mehlman is a top Washington lobbyist and a former commerce official in the George W. Bush Administration—which lobbied hard for RFIDs when it was in power.

Mehlman also worked for Cisco as the tech giant’s lead Republican lobbyist and, according to a dummy sheet from ITIF that highlighted his recent appearance, represented the Silicon Valley firm before congress, federal agencies and the executive branch. Cisco is up to its all-seeing-eyeballs in the RFID industry; it has provided the tracking technology to support RFIDs in places as far-flung as India. 

The ITIF dismissed as overstated the privacy concerns that drove Brown to veto the RFID bill last year, even as privacy proponents blasted a bill that would have forced Californians to agree to have unencrypted computer chips embedded into their driver’s licenses. The ITIF list of winners gave some insight into the sensibilities of the firm. It made chum of the America-hating linguist Noam Chomsky for advocating a ban on “killer robots,” while slamming all of Europe and China for not going the way of Uber and Lyft and “choosing taxi drivers over car-sharing passengers.” And the ITIF gave an award to the Center for Food Safety for fighting genetically “improved” food.  

The RFID bill Brown vetoed followed on a Department of Homeland Security push for the technology 10 years ago. But the same problems that plagued RFIDs then are still in play, wrote Kevin Baker of the Northern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, in a blistering online takedown of the bill as it wended its way to Brown’s desk.

“Experts warned that this technology was insecure ten years ago, when DHS under President Bush first introduced the licenses,” wrote Baker. “Back then, DHS admitted that the personal information stored in these chips could be read from a distance of up to 30 feet. In fact, a security researcher built a reader with $250 in spare parts, drove around downtown San Francisco, and proved how easy it is to read and copy these documents—without anyone ever knowing or even suspecting their information was being skimmed. Sound creepy? That’s because it is. This technology is a dream come true for identity thieves and stalkers, and a civil liberties nightmare for Californians concerned about government intrusion and tracking.”

I love this story in today’s Press Democrat about the twenty worst habits of Sonoma County drivers. Texting-while-driving, failing to signal (it’s not a sign of weakness!), slow-crawling up the fast lane on Highway 101—the PD hit on many of the most persistently irritating, anti-social, selfish and dangerous habits of local drivers, but they missed a few. Here’s five more to bring it to 25, but I bet we could jack this list to 100 in no time flat. Readers? 

21. Drivers who rush to make a right turn on a red light to beat the oncoming traffic that has just been green-lit, forcing the lead driver with the right of way to slam the brakes to accommodate someone else’s impatience. This seems to be a particular problem in Petaluma, which is otherwise a friendly town, and rises to the level of a hate crime, IMO.   
22. Drivers who abruptly change lanes on the highway and cut you off after you’ve settled into a middle-lane cruising speed with plenty of defensive-driving space between you and the car in front of you. Hi there, eat my brights.

23. Motorcyclists who lane-split and ride the dotted yellow line at 80 MPH in order to jump to the front of the line at a red light or get ahead of stalled traffic on Highway 101. Insane.
24. Lunkheaded drivers of 18 wheeler rigs on one-lane roads who obtusely refuse to use the turnout and let the traffic by, even when there are 24 pissed-off cars behind them. Rude.  
25. Lastly, an appeal to law enforcement. How about those guys follow the rules of the road, too? The California Highway Patrol is supposed to be model drivers out there, following the law to the letter—since they expect that of the civilian drivers they are sworn to protect and serve tickets to. So when police officers fail to signal, as they often do, they are sending the message that it’s okay for everyone else to just randomly switch lanes without letting other drivers know their intention. When cops talk on their cellphones while driving—not an uncommon sight, wouldn’t you agree?—they are definitely not helping the cause of dissuading jerky 21-year-olds from killing other drivers in a moment of selfish distraction.