Networked Cars: Good For Safety, Bad For Privacy 327
jfruh writes "Networked cars — cars that can identify each other's location and prevent collisions — are coming soon, and will be a boon for safety, with one estimate having them cut accidents by 70 percent. But what happens to all the data the car will collect — about your location and driving behavior? It's worrisome that nobody seems to be thinking seriously about the privacy side of the equation."
They are thinking VERY seriously about it (Score:4, Informative)
And the outcome doesn't look positive. Police/Feds/DHS/TSA are all salivating over this - they're thinking exactly how to collect, store and use this information.
Re:Not worried. (Score:5, Informative)
Given the chance of damage I don't know if privacy is something I want in a car.
You're not thinking long or deep enough.
Yes, everyone could theoretically be followed and logged today. Currently, that is far too time consuming. But this type of thing, and ANPR, has the potential to store everyones movements, forever.
You are not interesting enough to worry about today. But a decade from now, when you decide to run for school board or state congress...you will be interesting to your opponent.
For the price of a case of beer to his brother in law the cop....your opponent can delve into all of your movements for the last decade with a simple SQL statement. "Oh look... RyuuzakiTetsuya frequented a gay bar back in 2013!"
(Yes, you were just there with some college buddies, no big deal. But now you have to defend against the increasingly negative political ads - and in some areas of the country, that type of thing matters)
All of your movements, everyone you hang out with...on someone else's server, forever.
Re:Automation and identification are not codepende (Score:5, Informative)
FTFA:
Because the cars in the Ann Arbor test only need to know the location of other vehicles within 300 meters, there’s no need to connect to the Internet or record your car’s location, says van der Jagt. And since the system doesn’t collect any data from the car’s registration or VIN, there’s no way for Ford or anyone else to know who you are and where you’re going, he adds.
You're right, and came to the same conclusion the car makers did. The article writer is assuming that they'll start recording and sharing this data, and explains why it would be bad if that happens. (Kinda tautological.) It's similar to arguing that we should have never invented tabulating machines (and later computers) because they could be used by someone like the Nazis. That's a very regressive argument, but the author expands it. His point is that the privacy invading features could later be added, not that they exist now. (So we shouldn't develop anything at all, because everything is a prerequisite technology for something evil.)
Re:They don't have to be (just generate a GUID) (Score:3, Informative)
Yay. Finally, we'll be able to get rid of all those license plate scanners in police cars and along roadways.
Doh, now they'll be replaced with smaller, cheaper, more accurate devices that log all the info your car is broadcasting.
Of course, it'll be easier for criminals to subvert, because now they won't have to have a fake license plate, they can just broadcast fake info.
Win-win-win for everyone!
Re:They don't have to be (just generate a GUID) (Score:5, Informative)
One moment there are two cars near you; one to the left and on a long distance in front of you. A few seconds later there is a car to the left and one very closely in front of you. Does it make a difference if the car in front of you now has just overtaken you (soon to be followed by another car already on your left) or whether it was the car a long distance away that is standing still?
Traffic is dynamic, so you need to be able to track all it's dynamic components.
You may not read license plates, but you are identifying and remembering cars near you all the time.