<VV> OnStar

[RoboMan91324 at aol.com]

I wasn't going to contribute to this train.  However ...... 

The intrusion into our lives of government and such entities as insurance 
companies is insidious.  They can and do force their respective wills on us in so 
many ways.  This is also true of market forces whether good or bad.  If these 
systems become popular enough, they will be standard on all cars, not just 
high end GM.  The Feds force their will on us all the time.  The recent "Click 
it or Ticket" program is being forced on the states illegally with the threat 
of holding back federal funds from the states.  These are tax dollars the 
citizens of these states are forced to pay with the belief that they will get them 
back in services.  If insurance companies lobby successfully for the use of 
expanded "Black Box" recording capability of what we do in our cars, they will 
be in our shorts full time on the road.  Don't think that this can't happen.  
It may be made legitimate by lawmakers or it could be financially forced on us. 
 The insurance companies could make a good case for charging more for 
"unmonitored" cars than for cars with monitoring systems.  This kicker could be 
significant and may even be applied to our classic cars.  If you disable the system 
(unlikely in this scenario) the insurance company might be able to void your 
coverage in case of a loss.

Anyway, Big Brother is here.  He just doesn't want you to know.  If he can't 
come in the front door, he will come in through a window.

I am off of my soap box now.

Doc
~~~~~~~~~~~
In a message dated 6/6/2005 12:43:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:


> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 14:01:36 -0500 
> From: Dave Keillor <dkeillor at ultrex.com>
> Subject: RE: <VV> Onstar Limits - No Corvair
> To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Message-ID:
>     <40ED1C5EC72FD711819D00A0C9DEDFAA014EDEB7 at dogbert.corp.tconcepts.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Vehicle location isn't the only issue here.  There is a lot of other "black 
> box" information that people like insurance companies and government would 
> love to have (and which they increasingly have access to through means that are 
> much more pervasive than OnStar).  Here's a link to what people related to 
> the insurance company think of the telematics: 
> http://www.technologydecisions.com/backissue/1204/dec04_trends_tech.asp
> 
> Does your privacy feel threatened?  As someone who makes his living in 
> technology, it should!  Loss of privacy is like the frog in a pan of water that's 
> slowly heated.  He (the frog) doesn't notice the change until it's too late.
> 
> Dave Keillor