Your Not Alone...

In airplanes these days, there is always a lot of talk about the "black box" in the plane that records data before a crash to help figure out what went wrong. Well, those black boxes are soon finding their way into our cars. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) is beginning a process to mandate an event data recorder (EDR) in all new cars. As of now, many automakers have mini computer devices to moniter vehicle processes. But, the NHTSA is now instituting a universal format for recording this data. Now, if these mini black boxes record anything, they can be read easily to help determine what happened in the event of an accident.

But there is a whole other issue that is bound to enter in these disscussions: maintaining privacy. Many consumers are afraid that with these devices monitoring everything they do, they could be in danger of not only someone tapping into that data, but it being used against them were a crash to occur. Many are afraid that if they were to get involved in a lawsuit, the recorder could be used as evidence against them in court. Or worse for some, the data could be on an open netowrk accessable to any law enforcement or government officials. This way, if we are driving down the highway exceeding the speed limit, we could be cited without being stopped. There is clearly a great amount of opposition to this device and it will be difficult for the government to get it established without a great fight.