http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141048,00.html
Car Black Boxes: Safety or Spy Feature?
Thursday, December 09, 2004
By Jim Harper
New cars offer a delightful array of information and services: satellite
radio, intelligent cruise control, braking and steering assistance,
navigation systems, and roadside assistance, to name a few.
These all appeal to drivers' desire for safety, convenience, and comfort.
But a troublesome feature of most new cars is the Event Data Recorder
("EDR"), or Black Box. As in commercial airplanes, the automobile Black Box
keeps a running record of how a car is being operated, including speed,
acceleration, braking, steering and seat belt use.
When there is an "event" - usually a crash - the EDR moves the last several
seconds of information into long-term storage for later downloading. Well
over half of the 2004 model passenger cars and light vehicles have some
recording capability of this type.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed standards
for the data collected by EDRs, but the agency emphasized in a recent notice
that it is not mandating Black Boxes. It will be under pressure to do so.
The National Transportation Safety Board has listed Black Boxes as one of
its "most wanted" measures.
There are obvious safety benefits if auto accidents can be dissected in
detail, of course. Auto manufacturers, safety groups and insurers want this
information. Police departments want it too.
Already, prosecutors are using information from automobile Black Boxes as
evidence against drivers. Last year, one Robert Christmann was convicted in
a New York traffic fatality based upon information downloaded from his car's
Black Box.
But car manufacturers aren't touting the safety benefits of the Black Box
like they do so many other improvements on the modern automobile. That is
because the Black Box is not a safety feature; it is a surveillance tool-and
when drivers learn about it, they are none too happy.
After I commented on Black Boxes in a news story earlier this year, letters
poured into my e-mail box. "This is 'over the top,' and a definite
infringement on my privacy," said one outraged car owner. Another wrote,
"[T]his is a personal vehicle, I've paid for it, paid my taxes, enough
said." From another, simply: "Not on my car."
Many correspondents wanted to know which cars have Black Boxes so they can
determine whether their personal vehicles were, in effect, spying on them.
There are a number of directions in which this technology is likely to go.
It could collect and retain more information for longer periods. It could
interact with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to record where a car has
traveled. And it could combine with communications systems to signal
authorities in real time.
Joan Borucki, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's nominee to head California's
Department of Motor Vehicles, has proposed a mileage tax that Black Boxes
could administer. The Oregon Department of Transportation has also
considered a mileage tax.
In 2001, a Connecticut car rental company began charging renters a $150 fine
for speeding in their rental cars, using a GPS-equipped monitoring system.
Consumers can shun companies which make this a practice. But they could not
refuse an automatically-issued traffic citation if governments were to add
Black-Box-citation revenue to what they now get from red-light cameras.
Legislation passed by the state of California is likely a sign where things
are headed. The state requires notices in the owner's manuals of cars that
have Black Boxes. The new law also allows data to be accessed under court
order, for research, and for other reasons. California's EDR law replaced
consumer choice with an agreement among politicians, bureaucrats, and
industry on a nice low level of protection for consumers.
There is no question that aggregated EDR data can provide important safety
benefits. If traffic accidents and deaths can be averted by improving
automobile safety, these safety advances should be pursued. But they should
be pursued in a way that unites the interests of drivers with the interests
of the community.
Insurers should offer car owners discounts if their EDR-equipped cars reveal
good driving habits and freedom from blame in accidents. Consumers, not the
government, should decide if they want their cars to collect such data, and
if they want to share it with others.
Jim Harper is director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute
(www.cato.org).
--
Jay P Hailey ~Meow!~
MSNIM - jayphailey ;
AIM -jayphailey03;
ICQ - 37959005
HTTP://jayphailey.8m.com
So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia
and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else available.
Western civilization not only provides a bit of life, a pinch of liberty and
the occasional pursuance of happiness, it's also the only thing that's ever
tried to. Our civilization is the first in history to show even the
slightest concern for average, undistinguished, none-too-commendable people
like us. - P.J.O'Rourke
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