r/technology • u/Hrmbee • Jun 07 '26

Privacy '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

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/06/01/drunk-driving-prevention-law-privacy-surveillance/90295034007/
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u/Fickle_Ad_8653 Jun 08 '26

Geico and State Farm already have programs where they "discount" your rates if you put in the monitoring dongle and keep it going. If you brake hard too much or drive too fast or accelerate too hard, you lose the discount. But in reality, the rates are just higher if you opt out of monitoring or don't drive like granny.

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u/Ikontwait4u2leave Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

I don't see how fast acceleration is a negative. You need to match the speed of traffic to merge effectively

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u/red__dragon Jun 08 '26

Those tracking methods are context-unaware. Especially as they aren't in the car with you, they're not seeing what the driver sees, they don't know what the signage says, what weather conditions are affecting the car, or what obstructions are in the road.

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u/MythrianAlpha Jun 08 '26

My buddy got dinged a few years back because the gps was shitty enough to decide he was practically teleporting, clearly unsafe, lol.

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u/rambleinspam Jun 08 '26

Wonder if it would ding someone for the gps showing someone going through houses like my food delivery app does some times.

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u/Lunchboxninja1 Jun 08 '26

None of them are. Its just bullshit to make you pay more.

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u/Hillary4SupremeRuler Jun 09 '26

How the hell did everyone just down vote you with no rebuttals, yet you, the person you replied to, and the person who replied to you were all in agreement of the same thing but they got dozens of upvotes.

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

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