The British government “will soon be able to automatically track the movements of millions of cars on most of its major roads.”

Thousands of fixed and mobile cameras will be able to check license plates against a national database, instantly determining if a vehicle requires police attention. A van flagged for lack of insurance was pulled over and found to contain $180,000 worth of heroin.

This is one part of the infrastructure of social control necessary for dystopian visions such as 1984 and, well, Demolition Man.

Britain is arguably safe from oppressive excesses, but many societies would like to put similar systems in place to control far more than criminals on the road.