Ladies and gentlemen, y'all will recall a while ago I posted some articles to do with the computer in your car, and how it stores data on your driving habits. The cops can and do use this data in court against drivers all the time. Cars also phone home to Momma, OnStar can track any of their units with GPS already, and do. Sometimes to catch car thieves, sometimes just speeders.
At the time I opined in typical feverish Phantom paranoia that pretty soon the computer would be able to shut the car down if the cops didn't like what you were doing.
Well, it didn't take long. I hate
being right. From the AP write up:
Starting with about 20 models for 2009, the service will be able to slowly halt a car that is reported stolen, and the radio may even speak up and tell the thief to pull over because police are watching.
OnStar already finds 700 to 800 cars per month using the global positioning system. With the new technology, which OnStar President Chet Huber said GM will apply to the rest of its lineup in future years, OnStar would call police and tell them a stolen car's whereabouts.
Then, if officers see the car in motion and judge it can be stopped safely, they can tell OnStar operators, who will send the car a signal via cell phone to slow it to a halt.
Why would GM do this? The cops asked them to. Seems the cops would very much like to be able to stop cars by remote control as well as track them anywhere. One immediately assumes the criminal car chase scenario, which would be just fine. But how about if they would like to stop
all the cars on a certain street? Or
all the cars in a certain town between the hours of 11 PM and 7 AM, or ... you get the picture. And remember kids, what is optional now can be made compulsory any time.
Man I hate being right.
The Not Nearly Paranoid Enough Phantom
