"Well of course there's a spine device! I need all the lumbar support I can get! At my age, you know, there are ... what? ... Oh ... never mind."
Posted on 06/14/2011 12:43:29 PM PDT by Gordon Pym
Is There a ‘Spying Device’ in Your Car? Posted on June 14, 2011 at 3:06pm by Buck Sexton
The Chinese government is famously good at internal security, and this may be one reason why: spying devices are allegedly hidden in thousands of vehicles. The devices, about the size of a PDA and apparently equipped to record conversations, were first installed as “inspection and quarantine cards” in July 2007 without charge by the Shenzhen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. They seem to have been placed specifically on dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles. Smugglers were among the first to catch on. One of them told the Apple Daily Newspaper (as translated by the Epoch Times): “For every ten cars we ran we only had [smuggled goods] in three or four to reduce the risk, but the border agents caught all of them. The accuracy was unreal!” Before shrugging this off as just another police state intrusion in a far away land, you may want to take a look around your own car for a different kind of surveillance device called the EDR, or Event Data Recorder.
In general, the EDRs you will find on American cars do not have the remote, bluetooth collection capabilities alleged of the Chinese device above, and the data is considered property of the owner. But the trend in this country is moving towards more data collection from your vehicle, and more access to it for the authorities. Some would consider this cause for concern. For years, the EDR has been the deciding factor in a number of criminal accident investigations. And the National Highway Transportation Safety Association is deciding this year whether all cars must have EDRs. If that happens, your days of going 80 mph with the top-down on the open road are numbered. And who knows, in the future it might be best to keep your voice down when you complain about it.
"Well of course there's a spine device! I need all the lumbar support I can get! At my age, you know, there are ... what? ... Oh ... never mind."
these were attempted in ford pickups a few years back, but the memory was limited and only was able to record the last minute or two of conversation before the crash.
in 90% of cases of a crash, the last thing heard was “oh *$&^”
except in alabama, where the final words were “hold muh beer and watch this!!”
Most of the basic functions of the “Event Data Recorder” are built right into the engine/powertrain control modules of 1996 and newer cars. Check the operator’s manual... there’s probably a disclaimer in there regarding law enforcement and insurers gaining access to that data.
In Maine, the final words recorded would be, “Son of a Whore!”
My portable engine scanner will show everything when plugged in. MPH, temp engine RPM, etc. So it’s already there. IF you want to volunteer for this intrusion just sign up for PROGRESSIVE ins. and their Safe Driver monitoring system.
It sure IS Progressive!
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