Feds to require 'black box' in all vehicles; insurers can view data in 37 states

Source: Wired

Next month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to declare that all vehicles must contain an event data recorder, known more commonly as a “black box.” The device, similar to those found in aircraft, records vehicle inputs and, in the event of a crash, provides a snapshot of the final moments before impact.

That snapshot could be viewed by law enforcement, insurance companies and automakers. The device cannot be turned off, and you’ll probably know little more about it than the legal disclosure you’ll find in the owner’s manual.

The pending mandate looks to some like a gross overreach of government authority, or perhaps an effort by Uncle Sam, the insurance industry and even the automakers to keep tabs on what drivers are doing. But if you’re driving a car with airbags, chances are there’s already one of these devices under your hood.

How much it affects you depends upon where you live and what data points it records. How much it will affect you in the future may depend on a new set of standards that spell out exactly what data is collected and who can access it.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/05/automotive-black-boxes/

I'd rather have a nanny state than a security state.

However, the recorded conversation from moments before each fatal crash was always the same thing:

"Hey, Willis, watch this!"

"Shit I can do that."

However, I'd rather have someone setting standards for education or food safety or medical treatment than someone invading my privacy in the name of protecting me. Out of my house.

"Ooops - black box says you were SPEEDING - doing 66 in a 65 zone. Claim denied."

Yes, that's intended to be an extreme example, but it might not be as far fetched as it sounds. If the history shows rapid acceleration or any other "risky" driving behavior prior to an accident, they'll use it to deny the claim and good luck fighting them in court. The legal fees would probably far exceed the cost of just buying a new car on your own.

It's government officials doing what their corporate masters tell them to, known less politely as fascism.

Los Angeles will keep them so busy the won't have time for anyone else.

I'll just point out that a bicycle is a vehicle..

But up until now just mostly dealers and mechanics had been pulling the data (usually to void a factory warranty or something)...

It would have been nice if the blogger had interviewed an insurance lobbyist, since they are the ones who spent millions to make this mandate a reality...

:evilgrin:

you need to do something that makes it look like an inadvertent short or something.

"Oh darn, the fuse blew so the box wasn't recording."

Not that I'm advocating that anyone actually do anything like that. It's probably illegal and would likely turn on the "check engine" light.

Know how to hack one, you know how to hack the general principle of another.

This is an overreach, yes, but while I don't think like a criminal, the only way this gets introduced to the public is that they don't know about it.

Now I know. Hell, everyone should know about this. Police states happen because of excessive secrecy. Knowledge is power has never been more true than today.

So "they" can see if you are actually screwing the housewife across the street, or if you said something inappropriate to a bill collector?

I want monitoring so that I can no longer express my individuality, can no longer be a human being, but be viewed as a perpetrator in every aspect of my life regardless of whether or not I am one.

Oh wait - I walked past a child today that was crying, and I didn't accidentally immediately pick that child up because I could lose my job for being late, yet it's incumbent on me to tend to every single human being in this world.

When we stop being human beings and are expected to act like robots, and we ACCEPT it, we are our own demise.

You think it stops with cars? You think it stops with "perpetrators"? It never does. It gets used as a tool to control the populous, and you are a fool if you think controlling human beings like cattle stops with "just the people that deserve to be treated like cattle" - because soon, you are also treated that way. Read history if you doubt it.