Expect Mandatory 'Big Brother' Black Boxes In All New Cars From 2015 628
New submitter Kraftwerk writes "A bill already passed by the Senate and set to be rubber stamped by the House would make it mandatory for all new cars in the United States to be fitted with black box data recorders from 2015 onwards. Section 31406 of Senate Bill 1813 (known as MAP-21), calls for 'Mandatory Event Data Recorders' to be installed in all new automobiles and legislates for civil penalties to be imposed against individuals for failing to do so. 'Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall revise part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require, beginning with model year 2015, that new passenger motor vehicles sold in the United States be equipped with an event data recorder that meets the requirements under that part,' states the bill."
Big Brother? (Score:5, Informative)
(b) Limitations on Information Retrieval-
(1) OWNERSHIP OF DATA- Any data in an event data recorder required under part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, regardless of when the passenger motor vehicle in which it is installed was manufactured, is the property of the owner, or in the case of a leased vehicle, the lessee of the passenger motor vehicle in which the data recorder is installed.
(2) PRIVACY- Data recorded or transmitted by such a data recorder may not be retrieved by a person other than the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle in which the recorder is installed unless--
(A) a court authorizes retrieval of the information in furtherance of a legal proceeding;
(B) the owner or lessee consents to the retrieval of the information for any purpose, including the purpose of diagnosing, servicing, or repairing the motor vehicle;
(C) the information is retrieved pursuant to an investigation or inspection authorized under section 1131(a) or 30166 of title 49, United States Code, and the personally identifiable information of the owner, lessee, or driver of the vehicle and the vehicle identification number is not disclosed in connection with the retrieved information; or
(D) the information is retrieved for the purpose of determining the need for, or facilitating, emergency medical response in response to a motor vehicle crash.
Big deal.
Alex Jones (Score:0, Informative)
Infowars, really? This is an even worse source than foxnews.com.
This guy honestly thinks the NWO is behind everything. He's also one of the people who popularized the "obama birth certificate" nonsense...
Goodbye slashdot, I can deal with the sentationalist titles, but this is the last straw. You cannot have both have credibility and link to a source like this.
Here's what it records (Score:5, Informative)
This Black Box is similar to stuff that's already IN your car, and airplanes, etc. Here is the legislature that will be revised to *require* the devices, so you can look at the details of what's being required.
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=adfa70d7fb0603db957cef53e728148f&rgn=div5&view=text&node=49:6.1.2.3.31&idno=49 [gpoaccess.gov]
Particularly, check the latter sections. "Each vehicle equipped with an EDR must meet the requirements specified in 563.7 for data elements, 563.8 for data format, 563.9 for data capture, 563.10 for crash test performance and survivability, and 563.11 for information in owner's manual."
Your Car Likely Has A Black Box ALREADY (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/04/19/hate-to-break-it-to-you-but-your-car-likely-has-a-black-box-spying-on-you-already/ [forbes.com]
Re:Fucking racists (Score:5, Informative)
Actually yes they are all made with UV-resistant black plastic cases. Unlike the black boxes in airplanes which are red or orange.
Re: think long and hard (Score:4, Informative)
No. Since when did these mythical people ever actually exist?
Re:Big Brother? (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is that most cars already ship with black boxes - ones which have no regulation. This INCREASES data privacy.
Re:Just a recorder... (Score:4, Informative)
Bullshit. The primary purpose of automobile insurance is liability insurance. The insurance company most certainly should cover this. His insurance only protects him financially. It protects your ability to recieve compensation if he does something stupid and injures you.
Re:Open format? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes you can do that.
You will need a OBDII Bluetooth adapter and something to read the results, I use the Torque Pro program on my Android phone. I can do logs that I can later email myself, or even upload to a website.
The adapter I bought was @ $40 from Amazon, and the program I mention is $4.99, add an android device if you don't have one already and it is still cheaper than most stand alone OBDII readers.
It can record everything from G's pulled on corners to the temperature of the intake.
Re: think long and hard (Score:4, Informative)
"Buy insurance."
As I understood it, Congress "mandated" that you buy insurance in the same way that they "mandated" you buy new energy efficient doors/windows for your house. Which is to say they didn't mandate it at all. What they did was they offered a tax credit for those that already had insurance, much the same way that there is a tax credit for replacing your older doors/windows with new energy efficient doors/windows.
I keep asking politely if you would care to correct my misunderstanding, but you've yet to do so. Why is that?
Re:Just a recorder... (Score:5, Informative)
Define speeding.
On most (translation: ALL) roads in the US, the typical speed of traffic is higher than the posted limit. In fact, driving the limit, some claim, causes more accidents than going with the flow of traffic.
Good point. In Michigan, there is an 85\15 rule. After studying traffic flow, if it is found that 85% of the cars were going over the posted speed limit, then that community has to up the speed limit.
Re:slippery slope (Score:4, Informative)
And you immediately jump to the conclusion that the person was talking about abortion and not recreational drug use or one of the many other ways government needs to but the fuck out of peoples lives.
Also, most people realize that Republicans are far more concerned with the person she is carrying in her womb, than they are for her.
Best way to stop abortions is birth control.
Re:Open format? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.amazon.com/Koolertron-ELM-OBDII-Diagnostic-Scanner/dp/B0055AZ0A0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1334865807&sr=8-6 [amazon.com]
$13 with prime free shipping.
Ignore idiot reviewers. When you added it to your device it will pair but not connect. This is totally normal, torque will take over from there.
Re:Your Car Likely Has A Black Box ALREADY (Score:5, Informative)
The bill references Title 49 part 563 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, which you can find here.
http://www.harristechnical.com/downloads/49CFR563.pdf
No GPS position. Speed, throttle, steering, seatbelt use, airbag deployment, etc. etc. are there.
Re:To establish Post Offices and Post Roads (Score:5, Informative)
No, but if the states refuse to enact such a law, then they don't get any federal funding for the roads. This is the same way that the federal government got the speed limits reduced, and the legal drinking age raised.
Re: think long and hard (Score:2, Informative)
Um.. I said no such thing. Unless you consider having health insurance to be a "penalty".
Again, as I understood it, they raised taxes across the board to pay for something that they were already paying for. If an uninsured patient is brought into the ER, treated, and then it turns out they are unable to foot the bill, it was Uncle Sam that picked up the tab. Perhaps not directly from the patient or the hospital, but it worked its way to Uncle Sam. If you have insurance, then your bill was picked up by your insurance company. As a result, you got a tax credit* since Uncle Sam would never need to pick up your tab.
Now if you'd like to argue that Uncle Sam shouldn't be picking up the tab in the first place, fair enough. I can respect that answer. But if you think that the across the board tax increase should be removed, and that Uncle Sam should continue picking up the tab on people who are unable to pay their hospital bills, well... I'd hate to see your home budget.
*I did see the part about how the tax credit isn't yet in place, thank you to the person who informed us of that.
Re:Big Brother? (Score:5, Informative)
The use of a motor vehicle is a privilege, not a right,
This oft-repeated lie needs to be taken out and shot (along with the people who repeat it)
REPEAT AFTER ME:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
There is no enumerated right to have children. Using the same logic, the conclusion is that having children is a privilege that can be revoked at the Government's whim.
Would the founding fathers have said that riding a horse a privilege? Or a bicycle? Under what rational does using mechanical power instead of muscle power to propel it transform a mode of travel from a right to a privilege?
Re:Easy to fix (Score:5, Informative)
It has been said that the TSA/Border Patrol can setup checkpoints something like 30? miles from a border
Try 100 miles.
2/3 of the US population lives within 100 miles of a border (which includes coastlines), which is effectively a Constitution-Free zone [aclu.org].
Re: think long and hard (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Just a recorder... (Score:4, Informative)
Does anyone else think it's a very bad idea to allow people who overestimate their own driving ability [wikipedia.org] to set the speed limits?