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posted by chromas on Thursday March 28 2019, @04:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the two-minutes-hate dept.

The EU is moving forward with legislation to require ISA, Intelligent Speed Assistance, in all new cars starting in 2022. This system will use GPS, map databases, and speed limit reading cameras to limit speed. Speed limiting will be accomplished by limiting engine power. Drivers can temporarily override the system by pressing down hard on the accelerator. It seems that, at least to start, the system will have an off button. Other requirements of the legislation include a system to monitor the driver for drowsiness, and inattention, as well as standard hookups for in car breathalysers. It seems the driver monitoring systems may include in car cameras pointed at the driver.

Sources:

thisismoney.co.uk
fortune.com
euractiv.com
theengineer.co.uk
gizmodo.com

Previously on Soylent: Volvo: In-Car Cameras Will Monitor Drivers and Take Action to Prevent Distracted or Impaired Driving


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:35PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:35PM (#821568)

    the same officer that currently installs a warrantless GPS tracking device on your car to see everywhere you go, could instead just plug into the black box and download a complete history of everywhere you've been.

    They're not all like this. My brother got into a one-car accident about 1/8 mile beyond a traffic counter - they also record speed - the officer at the scene did dump the counter data, and did note to my father that there was a single car in the hour of the accident recorded at 89mph, but never wrote anything about it at all in the accident report, not even a presumption of excessive speed as a cause - the written report attributed it to slick (wet) pavement conditions.

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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 29 2019, @02:28PM (2 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Friday March 29 2019, @02:28PM (#821806)

    It doesn't matter if they're all like that. Nobody has to worry about the truly noble and honest cops who would never dream of abusing their power for personal gain, or bowing to illegal political pressure. Except to worry that the power may eventually corrupt both of them.

    What we have to worry about is how the power we give to cops can be abused by the corrupt ones - because the evidence is that a significant percentage of cops are corrupt in a number of different ways:
    Selling out to criminals is the go-to example
    Abusing their power for personal satisfaction or profit is another big one
    And performing unconstitutional surveillance and harassment for blatantly political ends is a perennial favorite

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday March 29 2019, @08:51PM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday March 29 2019, @08:51PM (#822025)

      We all give power to people every day for countless things.

      I used to eat a lot of food from Burger King drive thru windows - that's giving half a dozen minimum wage workers power over what goes in the food I'm about to eat, not to mention the giant FOR PROFIT corporation that supplies them.

      Cops, politicians, political appointees, teachers, firefighters, electricians, cable repairmen - they all have far more power over my life than I like - but the alternative (not having these people serve and potentially abuse you) is probably worse.

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      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 29 2019, @11:18PM

        by Immerman (3985) on Friday March 29 2019, @11:18PM (#822098)

        Sure - but the that's no reason to carelessly give anyone *more* power. Especially not politicians, executives, police, or intelligence agencies - all of whom have a pretty much perfect track record of both badly abusing the power they are given, and making it extremely hard to take that power back.

        I may give that fast food crew power over my lunch today - but the only power they have over where I eat tomorrow is to provide such high quality food and service that I'd rather return than go somewhere else.

        Now, I actually have some ideas on ways we could hold politicians to the same standards , but at present that's not the world we live in. And bureaucracies are even more problematic, as institutional culture can be extremely difficult to alter, even with the full support of the top administrators.

        So, as I see it, any time you consider giving someone power, you should always ask:
        How could this power be abused for the benefit of someone else? Not just by the person it's being given too, but also by all the people they might be bribed, blackmailed, or otherwise manipulated by.
        How hard will it be to take this power back?
        Exactly what am I truly likely to get in return?

        And finally:
        Assuming that the power will inevitably be abused, does the benefit outway the risk?

        Personally, I can't think of any way anyone would profit from my being poisoned, other than the restaurant owners (by neglecting to pay for adequate food safety), and so I don't hesitate to eat somewhere that has a good safety history.

        But ubiquitous surveillance? That's never turned out well. Way to valuable for crushing threats to the current power structure, and thus allow it to become even more abusive in other ways.