Lawmakers Try To Block Black Box Technology In Cars, DVR Tracking 167
Lucas123 writes "Lawmakers this week filed bipartisan legislation that would give car owners control over data collected in black box-style recorders that may be required in all models as soon as next year. The move follows a separate proposal made earlier this month that would limit telecommunications companies in tracking viewer activity with new digital video recorders (DVR) technology. The 'Black Box Privacy Protection Act' would give vehicle owners more control over the information collected through a car or motorcycle event data recorders, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed be required in all new cars as of 2014. 'For me, this is a basic issue of privacy,' said Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA). 'Many consumers aren't even aware that this technology is already in most vehicles.' The second, more colorfully titled piece of legislation, is the 'We Are Watching You Act'. The bill was filed in response to reports that national telecommunications companies are exploring technology for DVRs that would record the personal activities of people as they watch television at home in order to target them for marketing and advertising. If implemented, among other things, when the recording device is in use, the words 'WE ARE WATCHING YOU' would appear on the television screen. 'This may sound preposterous, but it is neither a joke nor an exaggeration,' Capuano said. 'These DVRs would essentially observe consumers as they watch television as a way to super-target ads. It is an incredible invasion of privacy.'"
I wonder... (Score:2, Insightful)
when will americans well... complain about something? When they pass a law saying that your first born daughter must lose her virginity at age 7 to the president?
I don't know... I haven't been in the US for over 15 years now, but this bullshit I read... It makes you people look like meekest lot out there. And then I read comments about americans laughing at the chaos in brazil. You people should be doing that 24/7, instead of clapping, laughing, stuffing your faces and then changing the channel for more wrasslin
Re:obligatory Yakov Smirnoff quote (Score:4, Insightful)
"In America, you watch Television.
"In Soviet Russia, television watches YOU!!"''
This time you've got it backwards.
Re:I wouldn't mind it if... (Score:5, Insightful)
If users had write access to the black-box, then trust in it wouldn't exist, thus defeating the point of the black-box itself. You can make-up any data and put it in there, including fake video footage.
By that reasoning almost all video and photos should not be allowed as evidence. How easy do you think it is to fake video of your car getting hit? Any video or photo is much better than the fabled eyewitness testimony, which has been shown to be incredibly unreliable, even if the witness has no vested interest in the outcome.
Re:I wouldn't mind it if... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually I wouldn't mind having a black box in the car recording everything... IF I have access to the data.
Here's the argument, access vs control. I'm all for black boxes in cars too (I've already installed a dash cam in my car) but I would also require access to the data.
That being said, I highly doubt that these things will be tamper proof in the slightest (manufacturers will simply pick the cheapest possible way to comply with the law). Black boxes will be easily hacked so it's a bit of moot point for people who are bad drivers and dont want the proof hanging around (however for good drivers, it does help clear them of fault in an accident).
I've contemplated wiring up cameras and building a small server to continuously record front and rear views, so if there's an accident or something and there's questions about what happened I can pull up the video and say "Here, watch what happened."
Most cars already have these sensors available through an ODBII interface, you can get bluetooth ODB connectors off Ebay for $15 and a free application called Torque on Android can read it (IIRC, for full logging you need the full application) so if you want a black box it can be set up with a cheap Android tablet and a dash cam. You could probably even use the Android device as a dash cam (although I haven't seen a mobile device with decent enough video quality to replace my 1080p 30 FPS camera). I've got mine hooked up to my phone, great for diagnosing problems and improving my driving style.
However dash cam and logging devices are double edged swords. Along with proving you're not at fault, they can also prove you did something wrong and many people in my experience dont know when they're doing something wrong.
Re:I wouldn't mind it if... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you look in your car manual for any late model vehicle you will find that what you asked for is already there.
Its usually a very small bit of info, 30 seconds or less.
My car's manual says this:
Event Data Recorder (EDR)
This vehicle is equipped with an event data recorder
(EDR). The main purpose of an EDR is to record, in
certain crash or near crash-like situations, such as an air
bag deployment or hitting a road obstacle, data that will
assist in understanding how a vehicle’s systems performed.
The EDR is designed to record data related to
vehicle dynamics and safety systems for a short period of
time, typically 30 seconds or less.
The EDR in this vehicle
is designed to record such data as:
How various systems in your vehicle were operating;
Whether or not the driver and passenger safety belts
were buckled/fastened;
How far (if at all) the driver was depressing the
accelerator and/or brake pedal; and,
How fast the vehicle was traveling.
These data can help provide a better understanding of
the circumstances in which crashes and injuries occur.
NOTE:EDR data are recorded by your vehicle only if a
non-trivial crash situation occurs; no data are recorded by
the EDR under normal driving conditions and no personal data (e.g., name, gender, age, and crash location)
are recorded. However, other parties, such as law enforcement, could combine the EDR data with the type of
personally identifying data routinely acquired during a
crash investigation.
To read data recorded by an EDR, special equipment is
required, and access to the vehicle or the EDR is needed.
In addition to the vehicle manufacturer, other parties,
such as law enforcement, that have the special equipment, can read the information if they have access to the
vehicle or the EDR.
I see no problem with this type of info, because by the time an airbag deploys its already a matter of public safety and police are usually involved.
Yes there is probably enough info in there to convict you. If you were accelerating at 55mph in a 25mph school zone when you ran over little Billy, you can expect your car to testify against you.
I see no reason this information shouldn't be available to the owner without the need of special equipment, as long as the car was still able to power the recorder and provide readout somehow. I suspect the requirement for special equipment may be technical (how to power the device on enough to read it) and also legal, to prevent people from clearing the EDR after running over little Billy.
But it would be nice to know what is in there. Especially when buying a used car.
Re:I wouldn't mind it if... (Score:5, Insightful)
Who said the issue was space?
I'd like a 2 minute loop type recorder to ensure my PRIVACY. I see no reason why I would want multiple hours of my driving and find no justification for anyone to have that info from my recorder either.
I purpose an amendment to property law (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of making little piss-ant changes that affect only specific and limited circumstances, let's make a strong amendment to property law as a pile driver through all the non-ownership bullshit that's been plaguing us for the past 15-20 years.
If I am making a purchase as a private person (ie: not a business), whatever I've bought is mine. I own it 100%, it's my goddamn property and I will do whatever I fucking want with it (within written law of course)
No amount of shrinkwrap, ckickwrap, stick-on contracts, implied or non-negotiated "agreements" can change that. Contracts, usage policies and EULAs in which you had no bargaining or direct input are automatically null and void.
Any attempt by a manufacturer or producer to actively restrict, limit or deny my access to my own property, whether it be a needlessly fortified mechanism or an encrypted system to which I'm not provided the key, is met with swift punishment. The process for customers to address their grievances should be streamlined and available to the general public with minimal expense to the individual.
Hey, I can dream of a time when corporations won't be the government's puppet master, can't I?
Angry (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:orwell was right... (Score:4, Insightful)
Post-industrial society? When's that coming?
Do an inventory of the goods sitting around your house. Clothing, hand-stitched by child labor in buildings prone to deadly fires and collapse. Produce, picked by migrant workers, stooped over in fields for 12 hours a day, and frequently deported instead of being paid. Power from coal, via mountaintop removal in the Appalachian coal and lead belt, where cancer rates are 80% above national average, and ubiquitous heavy metal poisoning stunts the physical and mental growth of children. Post-industrial, my ass. You go to the store and see everything neatly packaged in pristine plastic --- just propaganda covering the massive amount of blood, sweat, and tears providing your comforts. A little neocolonialism and a lot of ignorance: we haven't moved past industrial society; just shuffled it out of sight, where working conditions can regress ever further back towards the horrors we once ran from.
End Run (Score:4, Insightful)