Originally posted 05/24/2011 on lubbockonline.com

Rebecca Boyle at Popsci.com reports that the federal government will announce next month that all cars must have a black box. Yes, a black box like airplanes carry.

Rebecca tells us that a lot of cars already do, but there is no standard for how they work, what they record, or how to access it. That may be a good thing, since even now they record more than we probably realize. According to the article:

General Motors can find out plenty of information about your driving habits, as Autopia explains, like whether you used your turn signal and whether you buckled your seat belt. GM can use this information to build better safety systems, but it can conceivably be used by insurance companies, too, when determining how to pay claims or assign fault. Or it could be used by legal authorities to prove guilt or negligence.

I'm not really sure what I think about this. Most of the objections I have are already applicable to cell phones. Speaking of cell phones, she also points out that in the future the black box may record if you were distracted by your cell phone right before an accident. I don't know why she assumes that is a future development, especially if you have a car with bluetooth for connecting to your cell phone.

The one concern I have for this the potential for tracking abuse. We already have agencies trying to put trackers on cars without a warrant. How much harder would it be to protect us from unwarranted tracking if the ability was built into the car? Who knows what kind of tracking is already being done on cars with Onstar and similar systems?

Google CEO: People want Google to tell them what to do

Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO sat down with a bunch of Wall Street Journal Editors recently. Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. took the interview and turned it into an article, "Google and the Search for the Future." After reading the article I wish I could afford Google stock. Mr. Schmidt appears to have far reaching vision, and enough of it to keep Google at the forefront of our online life for a good while. But at the same time, I cringe to think of what his vision means for our privacy.

Why does it make me cringe? Two quotes from the article, one a direct quote of Mr. Schmidt, seem to put Google on the path to becoming Big Brother, although a much kinder, gentler big brother than imagined by George Orwell:

"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions," he elaborates. "They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."

Let's say you're walking down the street. Because of the info Google has collected about you, "we know roughly who you are, roughly what you care about, roughly who your friends are."

We all know that Google knows a great deal about us. And I'm pretty sure that it has better than a rough idea who a lot of people's friends are. What's a little scary is the CEO of Google thinks that most of us want Google to tell us what to do. What's scarier is that he my be right.

 

George Orwell 1984 Signet Classic