Last Tuesday, Google unveiled a proper self-driving car, with no steering wheel, no brakes, no pedals. Google expects these no-hands-on-wheel cars to hit the roads in 2017 and it is up to us to craft the laws and policies that will govern their use. Such decisions cannot be left for tomorrow. As Google's working prototype reveals, the robocars of the future are here. And because people have a long history of projecting personal freedom and autonomy onto automobiles, they will have an innate understanding of the stakes.
This essay at Wired suggests that we have had a communication problem in convincing mainstream society of the dangers of pervasive surveillance. The author makes a case that the car metaphor made literal is the way American society will finally come to grips with the issue in a visceral, understand-it-in-your-gut way.
(Score: 1) by moondoctor on Tuesday June 03 2014, @04:36AM
I'd bet you're right. It's probably more along the lines of 'Major Moment in Privacy Debate'. Cars, 'Freedom', and The American Dream are definitely tied in the psyche. I'd bet it will be the most widely debated side of the privacy issue at bars and dinner tables.
Whether it spurs a breakthrough is another story...