Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Black Boxes on American made Automobiles!


Black Boxes on American made Automobiles???

Yes, they are there. They record whether you are wearing your seat belt, whether you are surpassing the speed limit, when you apply the brakes, and so on. Lots of information an Insurance company’s lawyers would kill to get their hands on… and now the American driver is simply going to hand it to them. It’s sorta like handing the Hangman the rope!

I have been agitating against the black boxes since I first learned about them in the eighties. I discovered one on my wife’s car the day I learned of them. I checked my car… and it did not have one. It was two years older than my wife’s sedan.

The first thing I did was contact the dealership from which we purchased the cars. At first they denied having any knowledge of the Black Boxes. After pressing them… they did admit the existence of them. I then asked that the black box on my wife’s car be removed. They said it could not be removed, or disabled because it was integrated into the car’s onboard computer and if it was disabled, or removed, the car simply would not run. We got rid of both cars.

As soon as I purchased the truck I own now, I contacted the automaker and asked if there was a data recorder on my truck. They wrote back to assure me there was not.

Now, dear reader, if you believe I am overreacting to the danger to the owner/driver those black boxes present, then you should know that at least two drivers, in the state of Florida, have been tried and lost their cases as a direct result of info recovered from the onboard date recorder on their cars.

Do you see the danger, now???

Talk about an invasion of privacy!

The automakers tell us the black boxes (data recorders) are there to provide them data, which will help them build a better automobile. Excuse me…. I don’t believe it! The US Government wants those data recorders on all us made autos ASAP. That’s ALL US cars! As of today, some US made vehicles do not have the Data Recorders.

So, US auto owners need to do a couple of things. One we need to fight the move by the government to make the data recorder "standard equipment" on our cars, and two, we need to get some computer geeks together to come up with a program to defeat those recorders and still allow our vehicles to run.

I remember when Catalytic converters first came out, and the government mandated their placement on all cars in the US, a cottage industry popped up, in nearly every community, in which the converter was either taken completely off the car and replaced with a piece of straight exhaust pipe, or the converter was removed long enough to hollow it out and then the "shell" was replaced so that anyone inspecting the underside of the car would see, what appeared as, a fully functioning catalytic converter.

Bit by bit, we are losing our privacy. Actually we have almost none, as it is. For instance, my cell phone will tell anyone who cares to know, and has the right equipment, exactly where, on the face of the earth, I happen to be... at any given moment! The various search engines on the internet log every site I visit, how long I’m there, what I look at, and read, while I’m there, etc. Even the stores are integrating Radio Frequency chips into the clothing you buy. They can trace you with that little transmitter. It doesn’t turn itself off when you exit the store. Nosiree!

How much more of our freedom will Americans have to lose before we cry “STOP”! Huh?

If you want a good place to start… blistering the US government’s ears about the black boxes on you automobiles is as good a place as any!


Longstreet

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh come on Longstreet, after all, they track your charitable donations, in the name of safety, scan you, poke, prod and other things at airports, in the name of safety, keep data bases on gun owners, for safety, track people who paid public debts in the name of safety, keep a record of credit card purchases, bank activity, phone call patterns, library activities, all in the name of safety, the track and trace good Americans who happen to disagree with the government, religious groups, and others in the name of safety and this is going too far? They already went too far. I'd rather be free than safe, without freedom there can be no safety. Wait 'til all the hybrids catch on and the states start winning about lost taxes on gasoline. They'll put G.P.S. in all the ne ones and track you and you will down load you g.p.s. data to a gas pump to determine your taxes for a gallon of gas baced on mileage traveled since last down load. Go on vacation, you may even get a bill for road useage from any state you happen to cross into. Watch it Ole' friend, big brother is watching, step outta line, you'll be on a terrorist watch list. Wouldn't surprise me if I already was. I buy a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" evertime I leave the house.... LOL

Longstreet said...

I guess I'm sorta used to it. The FBI has had a file on me since either the Johnson,or the Nixon, adminstration. Everyone who had press credentials, in those days, was checked out by the FBI. Some of the folks they talked to, about me, contacted me immediately to ask what I had DONE!!
The point is... none of this is new. It's just expanded as new technology has come on line.

Anonymous said...

It's just time we took back our country, and put and end to this "Nanny State".

Longstreet said...

Well said, Anonymous!

speeddemon0117 said...

Let's just face it, Big Brother is already here! For instance, on a public road, there is no such thing as privacy! So stop whining about it! Even without EDRs, police still other tools to use, such as accident reconstruction.

Longstreet said...

Sir, that is exactly the kind of attitude which locked us into the Nanny State (Big Brother State). We ought to be raising teetotal hell. But, you're admonishing us not to even "whine".

Anonymous said...

For instance, on a public road, there is no such thing as privacy!
**********************
Yeah they can search your car without a warrant, and persons in the car as well. My motto is, "They gotta catch me first." I drive a 30 yr old 4000lb battering ram of a car. Police are just criminals with badges in my book.