394 Do you know where your car is?

There’s an article today at American Spectator about EDRs--event data recorders, or “black boxes” that currently are installed in 15-20% of all cars and trucks in service, and most rental cars. Within a few years, as many as 90% of new cars will have this system tied to the GPS navigational computers already in many cars. With EDRs, motorists can be easily tracked to see if they are observing the law, and conceivably tickets could be issued when speeding is detected, although no policeman is near-by to observe it.

“The automakers are just as eager to keep tabs on us as the government -- in part to keep the shyster lawyers that have been so successfully digging into their deep pockets at bay. EDRs would provide irrefutable evidence of high-speed driving, for example, or make it impossible for a person injured in a crash to deny he wasn't wearing a seat belt.

Insurance companies will launch "safety" campaigns urging that "we use available technology" to identify "unsafe" drivers -- and who will be able to argue against that? . . . It's all for our own good.

But if you get edgy thinking about the government -- and our friends in corporate America -- being able to monitor where we go and how we go whenever they feel like checking in on us, take the time to write a "Thanks, but no thanks" letter to NHTSA at dms.dot.gov. The public comment period is open until August 2004.”

I suppose when you get out of the car and go into a store, the RFID can take over.

Full article here. Looks like a job for the American Library Association.