Chip car tracking project sparks debate

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet

DHA Photo

Chips that are planned to be placed on the registration plates of around 17 million cars in Turkey have sparked debates about the right to privacy.

If the bill prepared by Turkey’s Security General Directorate goes into law some 17,033,413 vehicles’ plates will be renewed with chipped plates.

Vehicles will also have to carry an ID bearing special barcodes that will allow the police to track any car they want.

Turkey’s city cams system (MOBESE) will be operated in order to be compatible with the new plates according to the bill.

The new regulation targets smuggling, terror activities and minimizing public order crimes, according to an official statement from the directorate.

The vehicles of foreign nationals entering Turkish borders will be also introduced quickly to the new practice, with the police placing chips on those vehicles as well.

However Ankara Bar Association head Metin Feyzioğlu has called the bill the “Big Brother project,” saying it violates the principle of the right to a private life.

“The aim here is to let the state track everyone more easily. There is no similar practice in any other democratic state. They are trying to damage freedom here in the name of security,” he said.

Fevzi Apaydın, head of the Turkish Drivers and Automobile Federation (TŞOF), said they supported the bill on condition of it “not interfering in private life.”