Toll tags, like E-ZPass, are a quick and easy way to pay tolls. Instead of fumbling with change, you just drive through a toll booth and the payment -- often discounted -- is automatically deducted from your account.

Of course, you're also letting someone know where you were at that exact moment and in which direction you were headed.

Toll tags also provide valuable information about how well traffic is flowing. Computers can time how long it takes a car to travel from one toll booth to another or from one toll tag sensor to another.

Toll data has been used in criminal cases and divorce proceedings. ("You were visiting a client in Connecticut, you say? The toll records say you were driving to New Jersey... where your girlfriend lives!")

In New Jersey, at least, EZ-Pass toll records can be accessed only with a court order and only in criminal cases, according to New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney. The records are, however, kept indefinitely.

The rules may differ wherever you are. New Jersey's privacy rules apply only to those who have an EZ-Pass account in that state. If you have a toll tag from someplace else, your privacy protection may vary.



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