State Representative Brad Robinson (D-Bonne Terre) has raised concerns about the Missouri Department of Transportation's new cell phone spying program. The system "mines" location data from the cell phone companies to provide real-time access to the location and speed of every individual motorist traveling with a wireless phone along 5500 miles of state highway.

"Look-out, big brother is traveling with you down the highway in the form of MoDOT," Robinson told the Park Hills Daily Journal newspaper.

The state representative believes the highways agency would better serve the public if it focused its efforts on helping out stranded motorists. "If you are involved in an auto accident, someone will most likely use his or her cell phone to place a call for help, right?"

In December, Missouri's transportation department signed a $6.2 million contract with National Engineering Technology Corporation -- a Canadian firmed owned by a UK-based ITIS Holdings -- to operate the program.