Standard.net: "Our View: The black box in the car"

[seanhaight]

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/07 ... ck-box-car

Most drivers of new vehicles in the U.S. are probably unaware that there’s a "black box" in their car, truck, RV, etc. Close to 90 percent of new vehicles come with these "event data recorders" that can record how the vehicle was being driven just before an accident. Now Congress wants to make those vehicle black boxes the law of the land. A bill recently passed the U.S. Senate which mandates that all new vehicles have the "event data recorders" starting in 2015. The U.S. House is expected to follow suit.

But that’s a bad idea, another infringement on personal liberties by lawmakers who seem to have become intoxicated with personal snooping since Sept. 11. We accept the marketing trend that has led automobile makers to install black boxes in cars and other vehicles. If a buyer wants to buy a car with an "event data recorder," that is his or her right.

By the same token, a buyer should have the right to buy a new vehicle without the data recorders, if that is his or her preference.

A report on the vehicle "black box" bill from PC World sounds Orwellian. It reads, "According to the text of the bill, the data on the recording device may not be retrieved by anyone other than the owner or the lessee ... unless, of course, the government asks for it."

"... unless, of course, the government asks for it": What that really means is that the private owner of the car isn’t the owner if the government says so.

That’s another intrusion into our personal lives. This kind of soft oppression needs to be curbed. If the vehicle "black box" bill becomes law, we hope it will be challenged in court.

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/07 ... ck-box-car