Your car may already be watching you.

[woo me with science]

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/0608blackbox.html


Privacy battle brews over tattletale cars

By REBECCA CARR
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/08/06

WASHINGTON — A privacy battle is brewing over devices being installed in most new cars that record how drivers react in the seconds leading up to accidents

....

"I am willing to bet that most members of Congress don't know that there are black boxes in most new cars," said Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.). Capuano is worried that the information will be misused, violating individuals' privacy rights...."What's next, a GPS in my suit jacket?" he asked.

Capuano plans to introduce legislation with Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) in the coming weeks that would require automakers to inform consumers about the existence of the recording devices and how to disable them.

....

It's a big issue because the black boxes, which are small enough to hold in your hand, have been installed in an estimated 40 million cars since the mid-1990s.

....

By all accounts, the devices make it easier for police and insurance companies to figure out what went wrong in a crash and who is at fault. But privacy advocates worry that the boxes will allow insurance companies to detect bad driving habits even if a driver has never been cited...."That information could be shared with your insurance carrier, and your rates can go up," Skrum said.

.....


"The bottom line is I don't think people want their cars spying on them," he said.

Privacy concerns prompted California to pass legislation in 2004 that requires car manufacturers to disclose whether the devices have been installed.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. onStar actually does spy on you, and you signed a waiver letting them.

OnStar sucks the big one.

Honestly, how many times will flood waters in the flatlands of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, come through, grab your car and strand you with an infant in the back seat? And how many times will you be able to cry for help through onstar in time to save you from drowning?

Those events are so rare, that even with 30,000,000 cars on the road every day, it is a big enough and rare enough event to have local, national and cable news programs carry it live.

So millions of americans sign away their privacy in their own cars, for what? This only benefits the authorities, who in my mind, already have too much power in our police state as it is.

[YOY]

2. I thought it was just me and this guy who worry about these things

[DELUSIONAL]

3. Thank goodness for OLD really OLD cars and trucks