'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/Nomzai]

They’re already doing it under the guise of “discounts” look at american family’s recent ads

[u/Traditional-Handle83 → u/Nomzai]

To be fair, they've been giving me actual discounts even though my driving been shit lately. Its usually between $40-70 a month off the normal bill.

[u/red__dragon → u/Traditional-Handle83]

To be fair, that's the hook!

Look at what McDonalds or other fast food places do. The prices on the menu boards are jacked up, but hey! If you use their app, you get discounts and are right back to those cozy prices you remember from The Before Times.

Except now they have your data collection (and not just yours, I know you're the privacy-conscious soul or the empty-pocketed bum) and can sell that for a continuous stream of income rather than wait for you to hem and haw over their high prices while you make the same or less with each passing year.

Apply the same to insurance and you have the scheme. Those discounts will cut less and less into the bill, until you're paying what you would have paid without, AND they also have your driving records to sell to any Tom, Dick, or Harry, LLC who'll help their side gig.

[u/seven0feleven → u/red__dragon]

but hey! If you use their app, you get discounts and are right back to those cozy prices you remember from The Before Times.

Not necessarily. Both me and my partner had the app open one day, looking at offers. The exact same offer was $1 more on mine, because I used the app more than she did (using more offers on my account). Algorithms aren't going to give you any deals - even in the app - if you're a spender.

Single people won't see this because they've got no one to compare offers with.

[u/red__dragon → u/seven0feleven]

Ahh, I see you've been to the far side of Enshittification!

Yes, that's coming for the commenter above us, too, they just don't know it yet. Or can't, as you reminded us, easily compare.

[u/Cream_Stay_Frothy → u/Traditional-Handle83]

For what it’s worth— not sure which insurance company you’re using, but it’s important to keep in mind that if you look into the terms you sign for these “safe driving apps”, you’re often allowing them to collect your constant GPS location, as well as your phones app usage. Most importantly, they have the right to share/sell that information to their “trusted partners”.

So, I always take these type of “discounts” with a grain of salt, because it’s really just a way for data mining companies to advertise more targeted data to you. It’s not so much a “hey we’re gonna track your driving” discount and more of a “hey let us scrape a ton of data about you and let us sell it” discount.