FUUUUUUU!!!!!!!! Big Brother is you.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/12/new-app-marks-the-end-of-automotive-anonymity

How do we kill this?!

Good, I've been talking about something like this for ages. I think it's a great idea.

Hmm. In general I surprise myself in that I see this as a potentially good thing if it reduces traffic accidents and deaths.
But I drive as much within the law as I can, so it would have a minimal effect on me.
The real problem I see is something I was actually a victim of. People lie.
I was once pulled over by 4 police cars and questioned in front of my kids by cops who got a report that I was committing road rage. In reality, all I did was pass a car on the right that was blocking the left lane of the freeway. Hardly road rage. I didn't even cut them off or do anything else except maybe tailgate them for a short time before passing. Despite telling them that I didn't do anything wrong, I got a long lecture about endangering my children (this infuriated me). And even though they let me go, I could tell they still thought I was guilty. This is the problem. People lie.

subjectivity=problem here.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/there-is-an-app-for-that/29768/page1/

Stupidity = problem here.

With the exception of driving about 10% over the limit sometimes, I obey the rules of the road. I drive very aggressively, but entirely within the law.

I routinely get people honking, flashing lights, and showing me their fingers in creative ways.

A few weeks ago, I came up behind a truck driving about 10 km/hr under the limit, in the country. I waited until we both turned the corner at the stop lights, then passed him quickly, before a corner, across a solid line. All legal in Ontario. He quickly increased his speed, and followed within inches of my rear bumper with his high beams on for 10 minutes.

I did nothing wrong.

This kind of stuff happens to me all the time.

guys, if you don't understand those wonderful little gadgets called 'smart phones' turns everyone into 1984's 'Big Brother' the only way to stop it is for everyone to not participate, which won't happen.

Have you all not read about the newer GPS enabled phones tagging your images with geo location data? Take a picture of your house with your phone, upload it and voila, everyone knows where you live, follow you on facebook and find out what time you go to work or travel around away from home (those stupid check-in apps) and voila, people get to know exactly when and where you are.

Do people not understand you're self-reporting, the concept of 'Big Brother' is that everyone is a willing participant, and loves it, remember the end of 1984?

While I'm not for all this self-participation in 'Big Brother', I am all for people to be more responsible while on the roadways. If you want to streetrace, berkeley about, be wreckless, take it to the mother berkeleying track, or a private road where you can do whatever the berkeley you want.

damn that was fun to vent about...

Luddites of America unite! Smash the infernal phones!

I don't know if it's any different than people calling the police to report another driver for illegal or erratic behavior. It just makes the process simpler.

Zomby woof wrote: Stupidity = problem here. With the exception of driving about 10% over the limit sometimes, I obey the rules of the road. I drive very aggressively, but entirely within the law. I routinely get people honking, flashing lights, and showing me their fingers in creative ways. A few weeks ago, I came up behind a truck driving about 10 km/hr under the limit, in the country. I waited until we both turned the corner at the stop lights, then passed him quickly, before a corner, across a solid line. All legal in Ontario. He quickly increased his speed, and followed within inches of my rear bumper with his high beams on for 10 minutes. I did nothing wrong. This kind of stuff happens to me all the time.

You? Really?

The fix is to bombard it with nonsense. Reduce real complaints to statistical noise. Report everything all the time and make sure there are no real lic. plate #s in any of it.

The only ethical thing to do is down load the app and spam their data base with as much noise as possible. They claimed that malicious data is easy to filter out, but that just sounds like a challenge to me

As I have said before, I am all for ending driver anonymity but I don't like having the insurance company in the middle of the process...

I agree about the idea of garbage in = garbage out would be the right move. But, I suspect that "for your convenience" and based on "consumer demand" they will then just build the system into new cars.
Sure, you may be able to turn the system off but just like new traction control, the system will be on automatically every time you start the car and the exception is to turn it off.

I hate this with a passion.

Just because I drive aggressively does NOT mean that I am being unsafe. Sure, it COULD mean that, but the one is not definitive of the other.

The solution isn't citizen reporting, it's getting people who don't like driving into a situation where they no longer have to drive.

I agree with captain slow... if this goes live, send in so many bogus reports that the data is unusable. Hell, report yourself multiple times/day for good AND bad driving.

On the flip side - if you flag someone, it can be traced back to you. So back to the GPS capabilities and the passive-aggressive flagger gets their car torched in their own driveway from flagging the wrong person.

Capt Slow wrote: As I have said before, I am all for ending driver anonymity

I don't understand what this means.

I installed it, and the only cars that will get a pass from me are the ones wearing a GRM sticker. Be warned.

There is WAY too much potential for abuse.

Just wait until drivers start receiving tickets for using a phone while driving. And all those class-action suits against insurance companies for raising individual rates by using un-verifiable data. And the defamation suits from drivers wronfully tagged by vengeful (or just plain stoopid) people. That will be interesting!

what happens when a group of kids with this app is berkeleying around and starts sending in random offensives that you haven't commited to the DMV and Insurance companies?

violaters just need some 50 year old technology....

I'm sorry officer(insurance man) that wasn't me... that isn't my plate

oldtin wrote: On the flip side - if you flag someone, it can be traced back to you. So back to the GPS capabilities and the passive-aggressive flagger gets their car torched in their own driveway from flagging the wrong person.

This.

So lets say this takes off and people start sending in fake offenses. What will probably happen is instead of making the app illegal, you will be required by your insurance company to run one of their nannies that plugs into the car's OBD2 port and reports your driving habits to them. So if you get tagged by this app and claim a fake offense, they will ask to see your driving records to prove you are innocent.

I just wonder what will happen if your car is too old for an OBD2 port. I have pretty much given up on buying a new car for myself ever. I will keep some old car with no electronic nannies on it running until the day I die. Or, when some of the cool new cars of the future come down in price, I will rip out the wiring and run Megasquirt to get rid of any nannies.

Capt Slow wrote: As I have said before, I am all for ending driver anonymity but I don't like having the insurance company in the middle of the process...

It's hard to be an anonymous driver these days, what with that newfangled license plate they're making us all use on our horseless carriages!