At times it feels like Evergreen6 is Number 3's brother in disguise...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evergreen6
Perhaps you'd like to argue with me over what the owner's manual states about what the car records and shares while you drive it. It's why they advise you read the manual before operating the car for the first time. See the section about Onstar, and privacy.
OnStar changed their privacy terms back in like...2011? To say that even if you don't have an OnStar account, the car still shares data about itself and how it's driven. And vehicles have been recording crash data since 30 years ago, typically on a device in the car or in the airbag module itself. Those devices are sometimes subpoenaed in high profile collisions.
The difference between you and me is I'm aware they're collecting data, and I bought the car anyway. My cell phone, smart TV, and so much of what I do is already tracked. The car doesn't really concern me. I work with technology all day.
The piece that does concern me is the automatic re-enrollment in Smart Driver. The lawsuits need to get to the bottom of that. When I say no to something like that, I mean it forever until I change my response. I've explicitly stated my non-consent in exactly the way their program requires.
I'm not sure what you think the government is doing with this data or why they'd purchase it, pay to store it, or what they'd do with it. People are really boring. That gets a little tinfoil-hatty. The government has way more interesting data about people. Unless you're not a boring person and maybe you're worried your car will tell a secret?
The problem (well, one..) with America is this knee-jerky, make-up-the-law reaction to everything, rage-du-jour populist BS. Sick the law on things we don't like, but repeal it in the name of freedom when it's not convenient or we don't like it.
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I work with technology all day, too, and I'm afraid you're reading the room wrong, this isn't about people preferring to be luddites. No, we don't want to stick the law on everything we don't like, far from it. What we want is a small, understandable, enforceable, non-lawyer-feeding set of basic laws that are rooted in absolute, God-given morality (not the other way around, treating laws themselves as elemental and self-evident).
Simple things like do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness instead of living in a place of perpetual violation because of the sheer mass of crazy legislation. And within these boundaries, everyone can do whatever they want, whether I like it or I don't. Now, is there some complexity and several edge cases, sure, there always are, but very far from the extent that would justify the insanity of today's legal environment.
So, as you partially conceded, it's not okay if a company collects and sells our data without consent. Opt out by default aka implied consent is basically cheating, because there is no way people can be expected to cope with the mass of fine print and legalese in almost every product these days that is more complex than a butcher block.
Also, today's "boring guy" is tomorrow's political opponent, and today's innocent "secret" is tomorrow's fodder in frivolous lawsuits interpreting immutable past actions against perceived present standards, leaving everyone exposed to potential legal abuse. That's at least one reason privacy is important.