JDN

This might be OK in some instances, but I bought this car to drive and really don't want another black box auditing me.

Bad News for Typical Bimmer Drivers?

545RV

JDN:

Thanks for sharing this article. I strongly believe that the insurance companies will eventually use this system to manipulate its customer base under the guise of a marginal discount

Hopefully the general driving population will be able to see beyond the smoke and mirrors of this industry

alohalc

i've read a similar article in the newspaper last week. if my insurance company approaches me and "kindly" gives me this "offer", i'd definitely say no !

Initialdl

i read in another article that said that BMW, and a few other brands declined to let insurance companies utilize thier ECU's data...

in case you guys dont know.. all our cars with these ECU units actualy already contain the capability to record information to a certain extent right before an accident or things like that... it's just whether the manufacturers cooperate with insurance companies.. BMW declined with the reasoning that their ecu units contained sensitive information that may be used by their competitors..

545RV

Way to go BMW AG

JDN

Here is a relevant dissertation from WinX News which I am sure some of you may have seen:

"Is the "Black Box" Spying on You?

Most folks are aware of the flight data recorders (often called "black boxes" even though they're painted orange to make them easier to find in a crash) that help investigators sort out what went wrong after a plane goes down. Most of us who fly (or have loved ones who fly) are probably vaguely glad they exist. There's no question that the information can help pinpoint problems and prevent the same thing from happening to other planes.

Now car makers are putting similar devices in motor vehicles (Ford and GM are two that we know about), for the same purpose. After an accident, the data can be analyzed to determine the speed the car was going, when the brakes were applied, and so forth. Somehow, though, the idea makes a lot of us a little uneasy. Privacy advocates are up in arms about it. One reason is that most of our car dealers didn't tell us this technology was sitting there, happily recording as we drive along. It feels like a bit of an invasion, knowing that Big Brother is watching and recording our driving habits. And knowing that you're being watched can, in itself, affect your driving. All cops know this; if you follow a driver long enough, chances are very good that he/she will violate the law out of pure nervousness.

Is this feeling justified, or is it paranoia? I don't think it's really the current technology itself that bothers people, but more the idea of how it can progress and how it might be used. Suppose it's decided that it would also be useful to tape the conversations of the driver and passengers in the time leading up to the crash, as is done in the aircraft cockpit. And from there, it might be a small step to recording continuously, rather than in a loop that includes only the last few minutes. Then think about this: with digital technology and the increasingly ubiquitous nature of wireless communications, how hard would it be to transmit the data - including voice - back to some central location?

Perhaps the scariest part of all is that now, instead of this being just a "feature" provided by car makers, the government is getting into the act with an NTSB ruling requiring the data recorders to be built into new vehicles. That adds a whole new level of worry: will the government have unbridled access this information (and more extensive information that might be gathered by future versions)?

What does all of this have to do with Windows XP? Not much - except that the black boxes are really little computers that are only as accurate as their software. Our experiences with XP and all other software programs tells us that, no matter how good a program might be, it invariably experiences glitches and sometimes data is skewed. If "black box" data is to be admissible in criminal and civil courts, I think we want to be pretty sure of its accuracy. Has software reached that quality level yet? Is the good that will be done by having accident data available worth giving up a smidgeon of privacy? Is this just another case of government encroachment on our lives? Tell us what you think at feedback@winxpnews.com. "