This morning, I was having a cup of coffee while listening to the news and heard this one. I had to investigate (my late father's newspaperman genes).

New legislation (see below) proposes to make EDR’s (black boxes) mandatory for cars starting in 2015. It has passed the Senate already!

To be truthful though, smaller programs already exist. Allstate and Progressive purport to save 10-15% of monthly premiums by “safe driving”:  The Progressive device, called “Snapshot”, rewards drivers who “drive infrequently, or do not accelerate quickly, and who drive during safe drive times” (e.g., not during rush hour traffic). Really?

So, judging by that, you should remain single and work late (what wife and family will tolerate your coming home at 9 p.m. every night) but your boss won’t pay you overtime for that. You should buy a bicycle – not bad, you might get healthy, or die when drivers trying to get home run you over. Accelerating very slowly and become the victim of the road rage you engender in other drivers. So, their “Snapshot” program is a bit absurd, and to qualify for this great deal, you have to be retired, single and on Valium. Oh, and the Corporation will love you, little slave-drone.

Actually, this just proves that the legislation is “industry driven” (read: "campaign contributions", or legalized bribery). The initiative at its base probably wants to eliminate litigation by rooting out ‘bad drivers’ (read: bad insurance risks) and probably turn everyone on the road into an informer (read: “special bonus for reporting dangerous drivers and conditions”). Also, it’ll give the insurance companies tons of data on you which they can and will sell.

If you’re of a more suspicious turn of mind, you quickly realize that you’re being ‘mapped and located 24/7/365’. There might even be a ‘cut off’ switch for your ignition (which might get you and your family killed if it malfunction). Whoops. The plus? A car thief or cheating spouse will become vulnerable.

This sort of brings up the question of just who is going to be authorized (and how, as well as by whom) to access this data? Well, a court order will get you anything, and there are agencies that don’t even need that (well, they might… but in practice?). Obviously, the insurance companies (hey, they started it, right?) and the police, and a divorce lawyer? What happened to your privacy and the (conveniently) narrowly interpreted Fourth and Fifth Amendments?

So now, your car and cell phone can become witnesses against you. Who says this data is incorruptible? I bet there’ll be a way found to alter it. We all know it is not invulnerable. We also know that data is never limited to those authorized to view and use it legally. It is money, and the storage facility is the bank. The Willy Suttons are out there.

So in the “best case” scenario you “save” pennies, which is another deception since you are only “spending” less, while you make a larger profit for the insurance company. Oh yes. I forgot. How much are these devices going to add to the price of a car? Cumulatively, how much Middle-Eastern oil are you going to burn just to carry them around? How much is that when multiplied by the number of cars? How much pollution will that create? Who cares?

In the “worst case” scenario the same data you were adamant not to release to your cell phone company is squeezed out of you by the actions of the corrupt, incompetent politicians who were supposed to be keeping your data private by correct legislation.

Ah, but that would require them to actually do what they’re paid by you to do.

Wait… there’s an “even worse case” scenario. Your data and location are accessed by criminals who follow you to your bank, car jack you, take your car, money and kill you (and anyone else with you) for them.

What shows the mentation of the legislators (and the title of this article) is that this proposed “black box” legislation is attached to a real gem Senate Bill 1813 ES (MAP-21). That’s the one that will allow/mandate the State Department to deny you a passport if you owe the IRS money… check it out here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1813/text

I’ll be watching this one. Hope you will, too.

Source:

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/04/big-government-on-steroids-senate-bill.html

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1813/text