The Snoop In Your Coupe

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the black-boxes-in-cars dept

Seeing a lot more articles like this one these days. The Washington Post is writing about automobile data recorders (black boxes for cars). We’ve discussed this a number of times, though, this article tries to connect the two different types of black boxes. There are the ones that parents are installing to spy on their kids and there are the ones that the car manufacturers are installing to record information in case of an accident. In the first case, it’s clearly parental choice as to whether or not to use one. Some kids say they learned to be a better driving knowing that they were being watched – but at the same time, it can certainly lead to resentment from kids who feel their parents don’t trust them. In the case of the devices embedded by the manufacturer, the issue is who owns the data. If there’s an accident do police and insurance companies have a right to that data – or does the owner of the car own it? Then, what happens a few years from now when those black box data recorders take the same information and automatically upload it to a server somewhere that is easily accessible? As long as it’s clear what data is being collected and who owns it, I don’t think this is that big of a deal. Right now, though, most drivers have no idea their cars are recording what they’re doing.