We all know automakers want to keep tabs on their cars. Stolen vehicle tracking? Sure. Fleet management? Fine. Microphone eavesdropping to serve more ads? Hate it, but OK, that’s a thing. Hold onto your tin-foil hats: Ford just filed a patent for something that takes vehicle tracking into full-blown Twilight Zone territory. Always-On Tracking… In Your Car, or Somebody Else’s.
If you’re aiming towards fully autonomous vehicles, having the vehicles know precisely where they are, as well as the knowing where the vehicles around them are, is key to avoiding accidents as well as for more efficient traffic flow.
Not saying the aren’t privacy concerns and all that goes along with it. Just pointing out that there are some legitimate cases that rely on the same technology backbone.
I’ve spent some time noodling on that exact question.
It’d be great if we had a better functioning civil society, where the government and the 4th estate could insist on basic protections for citizens, and the corporations would be steered away from the worst profit-seeking excesses that they’ll get into without the extra guidance.
What do I know, though? I’m a comedian ;) 100% agree with you that there is a happy middle ground between new tech and privacy/civil liberties, but I’m doubtful that I’ll ever personally set foot on it with the way things are trending.
Until the brave masses start slaughtering the “elite” we’re doomed to plod through the current status quo, which, to paraphrase Dr. Horrible, is absolutely NOT quo.
i doubt the rick and morty version of “purge” can actually happen, where the female led an uprising that slaughtered all the elite people.
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Right, there are legitimate cases for this. The argument, though, is that these companies are not to be trusted.
I bought a new Toyota recently, and know from others that their app has some car tracking built in to it, where once you connect the app to the car you can see info on trips and gas mileage and such. When I bought mine, though, I carefully read all the T&Cs, and specifically declined the one that said it would sell my driving data to third parties. Guess what? I don’t see that historical data. A minor inconvenience, but it lets you know who they consider their real customers to be.
I’m amazed you could decline it and still get any functionality. Every app or website I have seen goes all or nothing.