Tuesday, August 26, 2003
The Eyes of Texas, et al, Are Upon You, You Can Not Get Away . . .
I guess I'll be keeping my old buggy for a while longer.An estimated 25 million automobiles in the United States now have event data recorders, a scaled-down version of the devices that monitor cockpit activity in airplanes.
Their purported purpose is to monitor sensors and determine whether or not the airbags should deploy. A simple sensory function, yes?. Apparently not.
Though capabilities vary widely among carmakers, most recorders store only limited information on speed, seat-belt use, physical forces, brakes and other factors. Voices are not recorded. But the devices are finding its [sic] way into courtrooms as evidence in criminal and civil cases...
GM has been using recording/sensor devices since the 1990s, to find out why airbags were blowing up randomly. They claim to collect the data only with the owner's or lessor's permission. Ford, on the other hand, is selling a decoder device for $2,500. To anyone. This decoder device can access data from some GM models manufactured since 1996 and some Fords made since 2001. At the National Emergency Number Association conference last June, an Automatic Crash Notification System was presented. Upon a crash, this "black box" is able to notify Emergency Services of the exact location of the car via a GPS system and cell phone, enable the 911 operator to communicate with those in the car via a speaker phone, determine the speed the car was traveling upon impact, what part of the car was hit, whether the car rolled and how many times and how it landed, whether or not brakes or accelerator were used, how many g-forces the car experienced on impact, the number of passengers in the car and their seat belt status, and the airbag deployment situation.
[In a test crash] Within five minutes, the crash data was translated into a computer model that could be read by doctors. ...[The next step will] include information about the ages of passengers and crumple zones of specific makes of car.
There is a lovely little puff piece about the device in Forbes, crying out about how dangerous driving is and how this device will save lives©. But even their puffery cannot disguise the base intent of the recording device.
Just knowing the box is there changes drivers' behavior. Fear of getting caught may be a more powerful motivator than fear of getting killed. ...teenagers drive much better when their parents are sitting next to them. [The] black box device is always there watching the driver. Some people are worried about privacy. We're not. [NB both authors are professors at Yale] You can bet that there will be a careful-driver discount [on insurance] given to people who agree to install a black box.
Well, there ya go. "It's purely voluntary." [Never mind the fiduciary coercion.] "What have you got to hide?" [It's not "hiding." It's called "none of your business."] and my fave, "It's for your own good." [Byte me.]
The auto black box monitor is another example of utilizing technology to invade privacy and make dependent children and good, ovine little consumers out of what used to be the citizenry.**
As long as we continue to give up our shoes, pausing only to thank gawd that Richard Reid chose not to hide his bomb in his shorts... As long as we pretend to believe that a 90 year old nun should be as closely watched as a 25 year old male fresh off a plane from Syria... As long as we allow our phone calls to be listened to, our blogs to be investigated, and streets to be videoed... [and a nice hello to all the boys and girls at Ft Meade, gladdaseeya] As long as we delegate to "someone else" the responsibilities for keeping ourselves free... As long as we keep volunteering to give up all these things in the sophism of "safety" and "security" -- we're fucked neither.
** Citizen: One who enjoys the freedom and privileges of a city/state and who upholds the responsibilities deriving therefrom; [aka: an adult]
UPDATE:
AB 213 Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, [has a concern.] The main concern is that they are estimated to be in 25 million cars, and most drivers don't know they are there... [He has proposed a bill, AB213 ] Under the bill...automakers must tell car buyers that the devices are in their cars, and specifies how the information can be used, ...the data would be the private property of the registered owner of the vehicle and could only be retrieved with the owner's permission, a court order, or by the manufacturer for the purpose of improving auto safety. ...With the law in place, car owners will have a chance to argue in court that others should not have access to the information -- a right they do not have now. ...The bill has moved through the Assembly and one Senate committee with little debate, not a vote against it, no opposition and no proponents -- outside of Leslie.
Like needing a warrant to peer in your windows or search your sock drawer. Go Tim Leslie . . .
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