Ratted out by your own car.

[Bronzeage]

A Florida woman hit another car and took off.

Her car's on board satellite communication system, Ford Sync, detected the crash and called to see if she was ok. It also sent an automatic call to the nearest police car. She was arrested for hit and run.

There have always been a 100 ways for a criminal to trip themselves up. Mystery stories are full of them. This maybe the first time a fugitive actually paid a monthly subscription fee for the service.

It's a strange reversal of a social phenomena that goes back about 100 years. A car is the ultimate in private transportation. One person in a car is practically anonymous. It's possible to go anywhere there is a road and have no contact with another person. No one knows where you are, or where you've been. Now, your car is steadily transmitting details of every second the engine is running.

While we're debating how much information the government should be allowed to gather from our phones, our car company is quietly cataloging where we've been and how fast we stopped.

 

[ZiprHead]

I've never kept the OnStar subscription in any of my cars. It's a nice service but too expensive.

Never thought about the privacy aspect. Another good reason to not keep the service.

 

[Jayjay]

“There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.”
― Philip K. Dick

(Applies to cars too I suppose.)

 

[Bronzeage]

I've never kept the OnStar subscription in any of my cars. It's a nice service but too expensive.

Never thought about the privacy aspect. Another good reason to not keep the service.

When I used to work on cars for a living, I had a little gizmo that plugged in under the dash and recorded the data stream of the engine control computer. As a diagnostic tool, it was pretty much useless. I would install it and let the customer drive for a week or so, with the hope it would capture some anomaly which would explain why the car did something weird for a millisecond and leave no trace. It seldom did, but it pacified the customer.

Today, most insurance companies have a more sophisticated version of the gizmo. They offer the tease of lower rates. Their customers plug it into their car and the insurance companies can tell how often they exceed the speed limit, or roll through stop signs. I wonder if the people who take this offer know how it works.

 

[Metaphor]

I've never kept the OnStar subscription in any of my cars. It's a nice service but too expensive.

Never thought about the privacy aspect. Another good reason to not keep the service.

When I used to work on cars for a living, I had a little gizmo that plugged in under the dash and recorded the data stream of the engine control computer. As a diagnostic tool, it was pretty much useless. I would install it and let the customer drive for a week or so, with the hope it would capture some anomaly which would explain why the car did something weird for a millisecond and leave no trace. It seldom did, but it pacified the customer.

Today, most insurance companies have a more sophisticated version of the gizmo. They offer the tease of lower rates. Their customers plug it into their car and the insurance companies can tell how often they exceed the speed limit, or roll through stop signs. I wonder if the people who take this offer know how it works.

How does this gizmo know the speed limit or that the intersection has a 'STOP' sign?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I've never kept the OnStar subscription in any of my cars. It's a nice service but too expensive.

Never thought about the privacy aspect. Another good reason to not keep the service.

When I used to work on cars for a living, I had a little gizmo that plugged in under the dash and recorded the data stream of the engine control computer. As a diagnostic tool, it was pretty much useless. I would install it and let the customer drive for a week or so, with the hope it would capture some anomaly which would explain why the car did something weird for a millisecond and leave no trace. It seldom did, but it pacified the customer.

Today, most insurance companies have a more sophisticated version of the gizmo. They offer the tease of lower rates. Their customers plug it into their car and the insurance companies can tell how often they exceed the speed limit, or roll through stop signs. I wonder if the people who take this offer know how it works.

I've been warned by insurance agents that it usually leads to higher rates.

 

[Bronzeage]

When I used to work on cars for a living, I had a little gizmo that plugged in under the dash and recorded the data stream of the engine control computer. As a diagnostic tool, it was pretty much useless. I would install it and let the customer drive for a week or so, with the hope it would capture some anomaly which would explain why the car did something weird for a millisecond and leave no trace. It seldom did, but it pacified the customer.

Today, most insurance companies have a more sophisticated version of the gizmo. They offer the tease of lower rates. Their customers plug it into their car and the insurance companies can tell how often they exceed the speed limit, or roll through stop signs. I wonder if the people who take this offer know how it works.

I've been warned by insurance agents that it usually leads to higher rates.

Do you really think the insurance company would invest in the hardware and the software, if it didn't?

 

[arkirk]

When I used to work on cars for a living, I had a little gizmo that plugged in under the dash and recorded the data stream of the engine control computer. As a diagnostic tool, it was pretty much useless. I would install it and let the customer drive for a week or so, with the hope it would capture some anomaly which would explain why the car did something weird for a millisecond and leave no trace. It seldom did, but it pacified the customer.

Today, most insurance companies have a more sophisticated version of the gizmo. They offer the tease of lower rates. Their customers plug it into their car and the insurance companies can tell how often they exceed the speed limit, or roll through stop signs. I wonder if the people who take this offer know how it works.

I've been warned by insurance agents that it usually leads to higher rates.

You mean that girl in the white dress with the nice smile is not our friend? She works for Progressive...I guess that is progressively higher and higher rates.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

“There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.”
― Philip K. Dick

(Applies to cars too I suppose.)

With the IoT, maybe even your toaster.

 

[rousseau]

I'm just going to leave this here: