PUTTING BIG BROTHER IN YOUR CAR
PUTTING BIG BROTHER IN YOUR CAR
http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/news_cover.html
CREATIVE LOAFING - For 13 years, a powerful group of car manufacturers,technology companies and government interests has fought to bring this system to life. They envision a future in which massive data bases will track the comings and goings of everyone who travels by car or mass transit. The only way for people to evade the national transportation tracking system they're creating will be to travel on foot. Drive your car, and your every movement could be recorded and archived. The federal government will know the exact route you drove to work, how many times you braked along the way, the precise moment you arrived -- and thate very other Tuesday you opt to ride the bus.
They'll know you're due for a transmission repair and that you've neglected to fix the ever-widening crack that resulted from a pebble dinging your windshield. Once the system is brought to life, both the corporations and the government stand to reap billions in revenues. Companies plan to use thetechnology to sell endless user services and upgrades to drivers. For governments, tracking cars' movements means the ability to tax drivers for their driving habits, and ultimately to use a punitive tax system to control where they drive and when, a practice US DOT documents predict will be common throughout the country by 2022.
This system the government and its corporate partners are striving to create goes by many names, including the information superhighway and the Integrated Network of Transportation information, or INTI. Reams offederal documents spell out the details of how it will operate.
Despite this, it remains one of the federal government's best-kept secrets. Virtually nothing has been reported about it in the media. Noneof the experts at the privacy rights groups Creative Loafing talked to,including the ACLU, the Consumers Union and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, had ever heard of the INTI. Nor had they heard of the voluminous federal documents that spell out, in eerie futuristic tones,what data the system will collect and how it will impact drivers' daily lives.
Just so you know, here is some more troubling info.
What you are talking about has been refered to as OBD3. On Board DIagnostics were implemented in 1980 to reduce emissions (a good thing) - this is the engine computer we have all heard about. The glaring CHECK ENGINE light on your dash is the consumer end of the system. In about 1996, OBD2 was phased in and has been mandatory since about 1998. It is simply an extention of OBD2 and further monitors the car to reduce emissions even more( a better thing).
OBD3 is OBD2 with a WIRELESS COMMUNICATION device attached to it. The public story is that it will allow the PCM(engine computer) to communicate a problem to the manufacture or state and theoretically the dealer could send you an appointment note to get the car fixed or the state could mail a request to get you car fixed.
The problem is, this can allow the Gov't to monitor you travels based on where your signals are found. And since one of the PCM's inputs is 'speed sense' the Gov't could send tickets based on your car's reporting your speed to a receiver near a speed limit sign.
On a similar note:
For about 10 years now, GM ( and for the last couple years Ford Motor Co.) and presumably other manufacturers - have been including 'Black Box Flight Recorders' into their vehicles.
These device, attached to the vehicles data bus, communicate with all of the computers in the vehicle. It is usually the Airbag module (GM calls it the SIR - Suplemental Inflatable Restraint or DERM - Diagnostic Energy Reserve Module and Ford calls it the RCM -Restraints Control Module). These modules control the Airbags in the vehicle (1- 6 of them in most cases). They contain the sensors, electronics and software to operate the system, deploy the bags and diagnose the system.
They also contain a small memory (usually about 10-20 seconds before and during impact) of the current vehicle conditions at time of impact. These can include: vehicle speed, brake usage & pressure, throttle & steering wheel positions, seatbelt use, seat position & occupant size/weight/position. This info is stored inside upon airbag deployment. It is ONLY accesible by special software and cables.
The owners manual will have a disclaimer about how the manufacturer will only use the info for vehicle design and real word analysis. It also will go on to tell you that it won't release the info to any others UNLESS court ordered - such as in a lawsuit
A very public use of this info is shown in the OnStar ads. The OnStar gets its info from the car's data bus and SRS module. That's how it knows to call in a crash.
As far as being a useful tool for design and perhaps saving lives, it is great. But we must be sure that laws keep up with this new technology and its usage.
http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/news_cover.html
CREATIVE LOAFING - For 13 years, a powerful group of car manufacturers,technology companies and government interests has fought to bring this system to life. They envision a future in which massive data bases will track the comings and goings of everyone who travels by car or mass transit. The only way for people to evade the national transportation tracking system they're creating will be to travel on foot. Drive your car, and your every movement could be recorded and archived. The federal government will know the exact route you drove to work, how many times you braked along the way, the precise moment you arrived -- and thate very other Tuesday you opt to ride the bus.
They'll know you're due for a transmission repair and that you've neglected to fix the ever-widening crack that resulted from a pebble dinging your windshield. Once the system is brought to life, both the corporations and the government stand to reap billions in revenues. Companies plan to use thetechnology to sell endless user services and upgrades to drivers. For governments, tracking cars' movements means the ability to tax drivers for their driving habits, and ultimately to use a punitive tax system to control where they drive and when, a practice US DOT documents predict will be common throughout the country by 2022.
This system the government and its corporate partners are striving to create goes by many names, including the information superhighway and the Integrated Network of Transportation information, or INTI. Reams offederal documents spell out the details of how it will operate.
Despite this, it remains one of the federal government's best-kept secrets. Virtually nothing has been reported about it in the media. Noneof the experts at the privacy rights groups Creative Loafing talked to,including the ACLU, the Consumers Union and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, had ever heard of the INTI. Nor had they heard of the voluminous federal documents that spell out, in eerie futuristic tones,what data the system will collect and how it will impact drivers' daily lives.
Just so you know, here is some more troubling info.
What you are talking about has been refered to as OBD3. On Board DIagnostics were implemented in 1980 to reduce emissions (a good thing) - this is the engine computer we have all heard about. The glaring CHECK ENGINE light on your dash is the consumer end of the system. In about 1996, OBD2 was phased in and has been mandatory since about 1998. It is simply an extention of OBD2 and further monitors the car to reduce emissions even more( a better thing).
OBD3 is OBD2 with a WIRELESS COMMUNICATION device attached to it. The public story is that it will allow the PCM(engine computer) to communicate a problem to the manufacture or state and theoretically the dealer could send you an appointment note to get the car fixed or the state could mail a request to get you car fixed.
The problem is, this can allow the Gov't to monitor you travels based on where your signals are found. And since one of the PCM's inputs is 'speed sense' the Gov't could send tickets based on your car's reporting your speed to a receiver near a speed limit sign.
On a similar note:
For about 10 years now, GM ( and for the last couple years Ford Motor Co.) and presumably other manufacturers - have been including 'Black Box Flight Recorders' into their vehicles.
These device, attached to the vehicles data bus, communicate with all of the computers in the vehicle. It is usually the Airbag module (GM calls it the SIR - Suplemental Inflatable Restraint or DERM - Diagnostic Energy Reserve Module and Ford calls it the RCM -Restraints Control Module). These modules control the Airbags in the vehicle (1- 6 of them in most cases). They contain the sensors, electronics and software to operate the system, deploy the bags and diagnose the system.
They also contain a small memory (usually about 10-20 seconds before and during impact) of the current vehicle conditions at time of impact. These can include: vehicle speed, brake usage & pressure, throttle & steering wheel positions, seatbelt use, seat position & occupant size/weight/position. This info is stored inside upon airbag deployment. It is ONLY accesible by special software and cables.
The owners manual will have a disclaimer about how the manufacturer will only use the info for vehicle design and real word analysis. It also will go on to tell you that it won't release the info to any others UNLESS court ordered - such as in a lawsuit
A very public use of this info is shown in the OnStar ads. The OnStar gets its info from the car's data bus and SRS module. That's how it knows to call in a crash.
As far as being a useful tool for design and perhaps saving lives, it is great. But we must be sure that laws keep up with this new technology and its usage.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 10:15 AM
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