A new breed of camera identifies individual cars, records the time they pass and transmits the details to a central computer therefore tracing and timing each journey. Doctor Chris Hudson, head of the Computing & IT department at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College examines the potential of new technology

Like many people in the Thames Valley area, I have received the email warning of police speed checks on the M40, M4 and A34. However, these kind of speed checks using unmarked police cars and hand held radar cameras may soon be a thing of the past. In fact speeding itself may well be a thing of the past with the use of modern computer technology.

Your readers may well have noticed a new kind of speed camera appearing by the side of our roads (the first one I saw was on the A40 at White City in London). These speed cameras are a little different to the usual kind of GATSO speed camera that we have all got used to. For a start, they are taller, they tend to be blue and have an aerial on the top. More importantly, these cameras are facing the oncoming traffic rather than pointed to the rear of the traffic.

Using modern computer technology, these cameras take a digital image of the road and can identify individual cars and therefore read the number plate as well as identify the make and colour of the car. The time that each car passes the camera is recorded along with the car details which is transmitted to a central computer.

A little further down the road, another camera performs the same actions, sending details of the time, number plate and type of car to the same central computer (hence the aerial on the top). The computer then calculates the average speed of each vehicle as it passes between the two cameras. If the speed is above a certain threshold for that section of road, a fixed penalty ticket can automatically be printed and sent to the owner of the vehicle no human need be involved in the whole process. The system will work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without pausing for breath or blinking.

Gradually these cameras will span the whole length of our motorways and roads which means that the average speed of the complete journey of each vehicle can be monitored. No longer will we see the familiar site of cars slowing down as they approach each speed camera, only to speed up again once past it. It will be too late to slow down once you see a camera; for a start it will have identified your vehicle before you notice it, in addition, slowing down at that time will have little affect on the average speed.

There are great benefits and dangers in the use of this system. If your car is stolen, all you need to do is to send the details, including number plate to the local police station. They can type in the details to their computer system which will be networked to the computers monitoring the roads. As soon as your stolen vehicle passes a camera, the central computer will inform the traffic police of the location of the vehicle and it can quickly be stopped. This also means that high speed car chases will no longer be necessary as the cameras can track the speeding car and police can anticipate the route and set up road blocks.

As all computers are linked by the internet, the police, and anyone else with access to the computers, can track any vehicle at any time (no need for James Bond-type of bugs to be attached to cars).

Big brother can really be watching you, but this big brother does not need roadside cameras to keep track of people. Many people these days have mobile phones. The mobile phone company computers keep track of each phone and detect the area (or cell) the phone is in, to allow communications.

In towns and cities, these cells are relatively small and so the companies (and anyone else who can hack into their computer networks) can detect where you are, as long as your phone is switched on. It has not happened yet, but if your mobile phone also uses the global positioning system (GPS), the phone companies will know where your phone is anywhere in the world, within five metres. Of course, the pay as you go phones might mean you do not have to identify yourself to the phone companies, but as many people top up their phones using credit cards, the credit card computers will have your details which can be sent to the phone companies so that they know who you are.

In fact you only need a credit card for anyone linked to the internet to be able to track your whereabouts. As soon as you use your credit card to pay for a purchase, the information is immediately transmitted to the credit card computers for verification which records your location.

Credit card companies make use of this to profile your spending pattern. This way, if the pattern changes, the credit card companies can contact you to ask you if you are using the card or if it is stolen.

They can phone you on your mobile phone if they detect that the card and phone are in different locations. Most shops use cameras to watch the tills and these cameras can be linked, via the internet to allow the credit card companies (and anyone else) to see the identity of the user of the credit card.

So if you use modern technology, no matter where you are in the world, some computer will have a record of your whereabouts and then be able to track your movements.