Skynet? No, Skypatrol
Cruising through this morning’s autoblogoshpere, I clicked on an Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) report on telematics. In case you didn’t know, telematics is “the science of measuring, sending, receiving and storing information via telecommunication devices. In automotive terms—it is the ability to establish two-way connection with a moving vehicle.” Like, a cell phone? Yes, but better! “Did you ever drive your dad’s car somewhere you weren’t supposed to be, or faster than you were supposed to go? With skypatrol, your dad would have received an e-mail or text message telling him you were traveling outside of your assigned geofence [!] or moving faster than the speed limit . . . With skypatrol, you can use GPS travel histories to analyze your route planning to maximize your effectiveness.” Question: can we make a rule that the “you” in question is always the “you” who owns the vehicle—and no one else? Just askin’.
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Providing the GPS data was used anonymously for the interest of city planning, and the telemetry was used in serious criminal cases I don't have a problem with it. There is no substitute for real police work and parenting. That being said, I have a Car Chip Pro in my car. The last car accident I had was no fault of my own, but I ended up being charged for the accident. It took a year, a laywer, some $350 phone bills and a day off work to appear in court to finally clear my name. I now log my driving habits for this scenario to volunteer it whenever my story is in question.
"Bringing in the Big Brother, rather by the government or the individuals (parents) is bad." Uh, Mom and Dad are not "Big Brother". They are parents, and as such it is their job to keep an eye on their children until they are physically and emotionally mature. While I personally feel that electronic spying on one's children is a sad state of affairs, I would not stand in the way of another parent who felt the need to do so. It is their right and their obligation.
@don1967 Never said the parents are the BB. I said they're BRINGING IT IN. Which is bad, and I stand by it. Big Brother to me is any kind of electronic surveillance. I hate that crap for myself, and I'm going to apply it to my kids? With the technology available today, you can even hear what they're saying. Their cell phones are their worst spy, you can know where they're located and even listen to what they're talking. Ok maybe the last one is just the government, but the technology is there. it is their job to keep an eye on their children until they are physically and emotionally mature Surely... but ummm, with such kind of devices, the temptation to control and doing it is just so easy. And controlling is actually very different than keeping an eye on them.
This is probably too late a comment to affect anyone who would read this, but the AIAA is the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and has been established for decades. This trade group is the AAIA.