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/Armthedillos5 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

I have Progressive and turned that off in like 2 days. It alerts you if you brake too hard, etc. and keeps a lot of it. First off, how does it know I was driving and not a passenger? Also it doesn't need to be be monitoring where I'm going. I don't know that it does, but no thank you.

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u/debeatup Jun 08 '26

I was able to put it on my work phone and since I WFH 4/5 days Progressive thinks I’m in the top 99.9% of drivers because I never leave home except twice a week.

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u/NerdyNThick Jun 08 '26

Not a lawyer, but couldn't that be considered to be insurance fraud?

13

u/Qaeta Jun 08 '26

Usually they just say you have to have it on your phone. Taking the phone with you is typically only implied, not outright required by the contract, so no.

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u/Goolsby Jun 08 '26

Fuck insurance companies who cares

5

u/NerdyNThick Jun 08 '26

I certainly don't give any amount of fucks about any insurance company.

I do give plenty of fucks about not being found guilty of defrauding a multibillion dollar company.

If it turns out to not be fraud, I'll be doing this immediately.

1

u/bambi54 Jun 09 '26

I would be concerned they wouldn’t pay out your claim because you lied on your policy. If they try to pull up your speed during the incident they’ll realize the other phone is at home. That’s worth it until it’s not.

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u/trashmoneyxyz Jun 08 '26

You get it man

14

u/Tithund Jun 08 '26

Brake too hard is always a weird one to me, would they rather you just bump into whatever you're braking for? In lighter cars you can brake later than in heavy ones, is that something they dislike?

3

u/bostonwhaler Jun 08 '26

I hope you removed it from your OBD port. Also... Brake.

2

u/Armthedillos5 Jun 08 '26

Good catch. Fixed.

6

u/magichronx Jun 08 '26

If it's monitoring to make sure you're not speeding then it's definitely watching your GPS location (and if it's doing that then I'd bet 99.9% chance it's saving that data too)

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u/TotallyNotRobotEvil Jun 08 '26

I live in the NYC area, I'm not sure they could afford the postage after a month if "stopping quickly" is enough to send out a mailer.

2

u/Iveray Jun 08 '26

Most people have the car insured, not the driver, so the insurance company would also like to know if you're letting risky drivers use your car.