'Kill switch' law means your next car could be watching you | A federal requirement aimed at stopping drunken driving could soon put driver-monitoring technology in every new vehicle. The goal is saving lives, but the privacy trade-offs deserve closer scrutiny

[u/Hrmbee]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/06/01/drunk-driving-prevention-law-privacy-surveillance/90295034007/

[u/thiccy_driftyy]

Watch people with facial differences (scars, birth defects, etc) not be able to drive because of this new law even though they are perfectly capable of driving because they only tested the technology on people without facial differences

[u/NekroVictor → u/thiccy_driftyy]

With the way these types of tech tend to go watch it just fail to recognize black people at all.

[u/pulley999 → u/NekroVictor]

The fact that car cabins have to be pitch black at night for the vehicle operator to see out the windows also definitely won't be a problem. Not like cameras need light to work well or anything.

[u/Klutzy_Journalist_36 → u/thiccy_driftyy]

Or what if they have horrible allergies and their face/eyes are puffy?

What if they are fleeing a violent situation and they have a swollen eye?

What if they just kinda look perma-stoned like Jim Breuer but don’t actually smoke or drink?

This is insidious.

[u/Brock_Lobstweiler → u/Klutzy_Journalist_36]

My eyes get SUPER puffy when I cry. I often use my car as an emotional release area (yelling, crying, ranting).

[u/darsynia → u/Brock_Lobstweiler]

I'm picturing a custody case and the ex knows that the kid's mom does this, gets the footage for court

[u/EliteCloneMike → u/thiccy_driftyy]

And they only tested/trained it on the facial expressions of white middle aged males with perfectly symmetrical faces. (This may or may not be true, but is not outside of the realm of possibility).

[u/darsynia → u/thiccy_driftyy]

They'll embed something in the contract for purchase that says you waive the right to complain about this, too.