Fed to Mandate that Cars “Broadcast Speed and Location Data” Promise Not to Use it Against You

free thought project ^ | July 3, 2015 | Justin Gardner

[upchuck]

Federal government is currently crafting a mandate that would require all new vehicles to “talk” to each other continuously. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to submit their proposed “connected car” rule by the end of this year.

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology has been developed by top automakers over the past decade and is ready for commercialization. It uses a combination of Wi-Fi, GPS data, and sensor data collected by the vehicle to transmit a signal on speed and position 10 times a second.

Like so many technologies, V2V is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has great potential to reduce car crashes, which claim 37,000 lives a year in the U.S. It also means that your driving data will be broadcast openly, making it easy for interested parties to intercept this information.

“V2V ups privacy concerns because it essentially broadcasts a vehicle’s location and speed, as well as some information about where a vehicle has been previously, to anyone within range. And while Department of Transportation officials told the GAO that “V2V communication security system would contain multiple technical, physical, and organizational controls to minimize privacy risks—including the risk of vehicle tracking by individuals and government or commercial entities,” regulating who can use V2V data and for what would fall outside the Department of Transportation’s span of control. It would essentially require legislation by Congress.”

Considering the mass surveillance being carried out by the National Security Agency and other agencies, it is highly unlikely that authorities would ignore this potent source of information. Local governments could use the data to track those they consider “bad actors.”

[GingisK]

Modern IVI systems have stringent boot times (WIntel fail) and updates/testing is under the hawkish scrutiny of lawyers.

Just what I need ... more lawyers under the hood. Cars are already almost unrepairable at this time. So, we must put a Cray under the hood just to be able to start the engine in time to drive to work? That is just automation overkill.

Is it rugged? Nah. A touch of EMP and we are all sitting still. I think basic infrastructure like transportation should survive unforeseen catastrophe or even warfare. We make stuff that is too fragile. Civilization has developed and collapsed many times on this old planet. There is no need to make the fall so easy and then so difficult to rebuild.