I think you are confusing privacy with what the box actually does. Nobody ever sees the data unless you are in a very very bad accident. It is not like it is public data or even data accessible to law enforcement/government/private industry. In the event of a bad accident the investigators need all the witnesses they can get to tell the real story of what happened. In my line of work (law enforcement) we always say there are 3 sides to every story. His side, her side, and what really happened. The box can help tell the real side of what happened, at least on your part.

 

My mother was in a head on not her fault this was before air bags. I know for sure she would rather have hit the air bag over hiting the steering wheel. Months and months of rehab. You do not want your face to hit the steering wheel. Maybe take the seat belts out too while your at it.

 

When AutoWeek conducted handling tests on a mundane Chevy Malibu Maxx hatchback earlier this year, the recorder automatically alerted GM OnStar officials, who called the car to make sure the driver was OK after a particularly severe cornering maneuver. The driver was, but later said he resented the intrusion. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/in...blackbox_x.htm

 

OK, you are correct about that, I will not argue that they aren't very valuable. However, so is my privacy. I will try my best to figure out a way to install "dumb" airbags. This is my first car to even have airbags. In fact I paid an extra $2,000 just to have the option installed (the standard GT comes without airbags here). My other car (Camry) doesn't have airbags either.

 

Well, we don't have OnStar, and I'm pretty sure you don't need to worry about the Mustang calling anyone if you mash the go pedal. The only person it might be calling is any local cops that might hear that sweet exhaust sound!!

But really, I understand your point about the onstar thing. I think it should only be activated if the airbags deploy. That would avoid any accidental activations like that lady had. I would probably be a little annoyed too if that happened to me.

 

My dealer just called me back. Apparently there are few bastions of civil libirties and individual rights remaining in Europe. Belgium is one of those amazing places, and they outlawed EDR's over there. Ford manufactures smart airbags for sale in those markets that don't spy and snitch. My dealer will place an order from Ford of Belgium. They even agreed to buy back my old airbags for 30% of the price. Now I can enjoy safety without the spying.

 

Nice! I too am getting REAL tired of all the intrusions into our lives "for our own good". 1984 didn't happen in 1984, but it is getting closer and closer to the truth every single day.

Here in Albuquerque NM, the mayor has been on a HUGE electronic servelence kick lately. First, it all started off with red light cameras. I was ALMOST willing to live with those as people running red lights (usually red left turn arrows) is a HUGE problem here.

But I definitely have issues on Constitutional grounds. And it was all for "our" safety...

Then, they decided to turn on the next money maker, uh, safety item, by setting the red light cameras up as speed cameras as well.

Now, when the red light cameras first came out, one of the "selling" points they used was that it is VERY difficult for a police office to enforce red lights unless it is completely blatant and the office happens to be in the right place at the right time. (and paying attention, but that is a different issue...)

True enough.

But now they need these lights to monitor speed as well? They have NEVER had any issues issuing speeding sitations in the vast majority of this town. It makes them quite a bit of money too...

Now, we have MORE accidents at the intersections here because people are speeding (or think they MAY be speeding) and see the cameras, so they slam on the brakes.

And get rear ended.

Of course, the city tried to cover this up by changing the way accidents at intersections are reported! Before, if the accident happened near and intersection and traffic in or near the intersection contributed to the accident, the accident was listed as occuring at intersection XYZ. Now, they ONLY list the accident as occuring at XYZ IF the accident occoured INSIDE the intersection!

A rear end collision occured two feet outside the line because some in front slammed on their brakes to avoid going through an intersection that just turned yellow? Then it did NOT happen at the intersection!

Can you believe this crap? Thankfully, one of the state employees called foul and let the public know what was going on and why the accident numbers suddenly looked so much better after the cameras were installed.

Have I mentioned that the yellow light times at the camera intersections were "accidentally" set well below the national recommended time for that speed/interseciton geometry? For example, on intersection that I go through every day is a very wide intersection and the speed limit is 45 mph. Per national standards, they MINIMUM for the yellow light time is 4.9 seconds.

Actual? 3.2 seconds.

Of course, after a major up roar on the local radio and tv stations, the city engineers when out to "verify" the yellow light times and they all suddenly ended up being just over 4 seconds... But they claim left and right that no changes were made to any intersections at all...

And they are STILL below the national standards for time!

It's almost funny when you see the video of the light cycling at just over 3 seconds, then a city truck pulls up to the controller (everyone found it very interesting that they didn't pull out a stop watch to verify the timings, instead they went straight for the controller boxes!), and a few minutes later, the lights (that the city claims were not changed AT ALL!) are all cycling a bit over 4 seconds.... And it is ALL caught on video!

Has this little episode slowed them down any? Hell no! Now they are installing cameras at STOP SIGNS to catch people that roll through them!

It's only a matter of time before they try to force everyone to install a GPS snitch in your car so they can send you an instant citation when ever you do ANYTHING that they think violates the law...

1984, here we come!

 

Don't bother me, I have a friend that can "Work on it" :look:

 

Yup, nobody ever uses the information.

 

'Sir this is Onstar, are you ok? - oh that's great news- while I have you on the line- do you want to renew your subscription?, we have a 2 year special'

 

Everything I've ever read about these devices has stated that they only record what happens during the seconds before an airbag deployment, and I believe it.

Just think how much disk space ( or whatever storage medium they use ) would be needed to store every measureable action ( gas, brake, steering, etc. ) for 1000's of hours of vehicle operation. This is probably why it only saves what happens seconds before a crash -- what happened a minute ago is already gone to make room for the new info..........

 

Exactly. I think it stores the last 15 seconds before an event.

 

Installing black boxes with five seconds worth of memory was as simple as adding a memory chip to existing computer systems in cars. Increasing the memory to several months' worth of data would not be difficult at all, Mr. Stanley says. "If GM decided tomorrow to track three months of data instead of five seconds, there's nothing that would make them have to tell anybody," he adds. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/in...blackbox_x.htm

Think of how tiny and cheap a 4GB memory stick is. That can probably record well over a year's worth of data. Also, as the USA Today article states, they can do that without even having to tell the consumer!! How do you like them apples?

 

Do you believe they are recording that much data though? Not that they couldn't, but are they? I have never seen any evidence of that. I can't even think of a reason they would want to do that, since the data never gets read by anyone except in a major collision...and then the only data that gets read is the last 15 seconds or so. So....whats the point of storing a year worth of data if it never gets used?

 

Well, it never gets used now. But in 5 years time do you doubt they can start using it. Not just in accidents, but to convict speeders and the like. Only legislation can prevent this crap from happening. Well that and the complete removal of that darn recorder.

I've been doing some reading about Belgium ever since I found out about their black box rules. I Want to move there Speed cameras are illegal, tire clamps are illegal, CCTV cameras of any kind are illegal (even on ATM machines). You can't even have a security camera in a bank or in your own store (well you can, but it will not be used as evidence). Apparently the privacy rules are so strict that your phone bill doesn't itemise your calls and the company doesn't store them for over 4 hours! Contrast that with NSA wiretapping As a Canuck I shouldn't criticise the US, Canada is just as bad.

 

What do they use for evidence in a robbery? I would think that would make it much more difficult to solve any crimes. I wonder if they have a higher crime rate because of all that?

 

Maybe they have better cops who have more training. Maybe they have more cops around (its a small country). Maybe they do acutally have a higher crime rate, thats still fine with me. Think how much lower the crime rate would be if we are all tagged with a GPS ankle bracelett. There is always an argument for less privacy; with zero privacy there would be zero crime. But is it worth it... I think not. Eventhough I am young (27) I can clearly remember a time when almost none of this crap existed. Growing up in Toronto I haven't seen a CCTV camera until I was in highschool. What did people do 15-20 years ago to solve crime and control society? Its not like it was complete chaos back then. Just my $0.02 (Heck I've rambled on and on about this, I guess its more like $25.00 )

 

+1, what did we do 20 years ago. Now we have video all over the place with indisputable proof that someone committed the crime and our punishments are less that years ago with no video proof. What good does it do if it doesn't help take the criminals of the street. " look we just saw you do it on tape now put out your wrist so I can smack it and send you on your way......oh, PS don't do it again or it will be two slaps!

 

For anyone who posted on this subject who is worried about "being spied on".
You should be a LOT more concerned about the Windows PC that you used to write your posts than you should be about any data recording that your car might be doing. Your Windows based PC much more succeptible to having information pulled from it and the people who have the capability are going to be a lot less trustworthy the anyone who has the technology to pull data from your car!

 

+20!! No matter what sort of computer you use, you are being spied on!!