I hate the idea of OnStar - MSNBC continues with the propaganda

[ChairmanAgnostic]

A wittle girl used the Onstar button! Saves humanity!

Here's the facts.

Once you sign up for OnStar, you lose all privacy in your car. It can be remotely accessed, without a warrant, by authorities. It can be used to turn off your car for no reason. It will spy on you forever.
How many of you will be on a mountain road, overturned, saved only be OnStar? 1 out of a million? That means that 999,999 are screwed.

[Evergreen Emerald]

1. how can it be remotely accessed without a warrant by authorities?

What causes the warrant requirement to end?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. the fine print in the contract permits two communications, ie

if the car senses a problem, they can call you, listen in, even ask you what is going on. You can waive any right that you think you have. Their contract waives your right to privacy and more.

I read of a divorce because the hubby was caught by onstar going at it with his lover.

[spinbaby]

5. Probably part of the Patriot Act

:-(

[MyNameGoesHere]

2. Onstar is a choice?

Like watching porn, you only buy it if you want it.

[Ezlivin]

9. It's a choice now, but if it "saves" lives it will be installed like airbags or seatbelts

Under the guise of offering the consumer yet another miracle-life-saving-device these could very well be installed as standard equipment.

[MyNameGoesHere]

11. If thee eye offend thee pluck it out then. n/t

[Ezlivin]

19. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard

N/T

[The2ndWheel]

10. Until it's in every vehicle for safety reasons

What isn't porn these days? Yeah, there is porn porn that you have a choice to get, but how much of our lives aren't saturated with emotionally and physically distant images that we get to manipulate to our liking?

The choice eventually will be either all transportation with OnStar-ish technology, or walking. Since most people can't get through the day by walking(which is what happened when we created a world for, of, and by the motor vehicle), there isn't much choice.

Then again, why stop at OnStar for cars? Maybe walking won't even keep you from being known and seen by some emotionally and physically distant authority.

[MyNameGoesHere]

13. Nope walking won't cut it.

see the street cameras are tracking you. Maybe some of them have you already jaywalking. best to build a bunker and not come out ever again.

[Renew Deal]

3. If it will save me in an accident, isn't it worth it.

I'd rather be potentially spied on than dead. How can you argue with that?

(playing devils advocate on this one)

[ixion]

7. that is the same arguement the neocons have used to push through the unPATRIOTic Act, and

the Military Commissions Act, and the Protect America act.

And the answer is NO, it is NOT worth it.

I'd rather be free to live me live rather than be spied on, thanks, though. ;-)

[Atman]

8. That's like the "I don't wear seatbelts because I want to be able to jump!"

The fact is, it's so rare and unlikely that you'd ever need to jump from a car plummeting off a cliff that it's probably better to protect yourself from the much more real possibility of getting run off the road and hitting a tree.

Allowing yourself to be spied on just so to protect yourself from a one-in-zillion possibility is foolish, and helps bring about the overall acceptance of "Big Brotherdom." Kids today don't have any idea what "privacy" is. They've never lived in an era when our privacy was sacred. It wasn't that long ago. But now, they post pictures of themselves naked on Myspace (god bless 'em!), they carry their GPS cell phones everywhere, they get searched at school -- privacy? What the hell is that? That little four year old girl will only remember that Big Brother saved her mommy, and she'll be one more brick in the wall.

.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. known fact: Seatbelts prevent rapture.

so, they are dangerous after all.

[napi21]

6. The example of the overturned car in a remote area IS a rarity, but

people losing their keys, having a mechanical problem, getting lost, or having some other type of emergency are sure not rare! OnStar is an OPTION! If it bothers YOU, don't subscribe! I can see it being a BIG advantage in a lot of situations.

[Birthmark]

12. Wonder how well OnStar works with the fuse yanked? eom

[Midlodemocrat]

14. Meh, it doesn't bother me. I already have a nav system and satellite radio in my car.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. I Once Rented A Car With OnStar And Hit The Button To See If It Worked

It was neat!!!

[Zywiec]

17. What if you put tin foil over the OnStar antenna?

:tinfoilhat:

[SyntaxError]

18. Doesn't work... you have to tin foil the entire car.