What's your driving privacy worth to you?

WILL DRIVERS TRADE PRIVACY FOR DISCOUNTS? http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/09/of-all-the-thin.html#posts

It starts out optional, then what?

And what happens when you autocross your daily driver, how's that going to look on their computer screens?!

MSNBC said:Customers who sign up for MyRate get an immediate 5 to 10 percent discount and the promise of up to 25 percent reduction in exchange for installing a small electronic device under the hood of their car. There’s no guarantee of additional savings: In some markets, Progressive says it could raise rates up to 9 percent for drivers who log too many miles or engage in other risky behavior.

I think my rate would go up. Actually, they would probably drop me.

Anyway, I doubt I'm ever going big-name insurance again. Just going around to a few small offices in town I found several much lower rates. My current rate is well under 1/2 what I could get from Allstate, Geico, AIG, Progressive, State Farm, and a few other names. Peak Property and Auto Casualty Insurance FTW

Oh and it will cause THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGE TO AUDI COMPUTERS if you use them!

We have a Q7 in here right now that shut the computer down and will not restart since putting the plug in.

Stuc wrote: I think my rate would go up. Actually, they would probably drop me. Anyway, I doubt I'm ever going big-name insurance again. Just going around to a few small offices in town I found several much lower rates. My current rate is well under 1/2 what I could get from Allstate, Geico, AIG, Progressive, State Farm, and a few other names. Peak Property and Auto Casualty Insurance FTW

+1

After shelling out buckets of money to rebuild me and and pay my bills after my accident, Encompass raised my rates $11.00. They call every few months reminding me if I have any additional doctor visits or therapy to submit the bills. .

This crap has always worried me.

What's next? Big Brother legislating it in as manditory?

They did That for the insurance companies.

Too bad personal responsibility is a thing of the past.

NO computers monitoring any of my cars/trucks ...yet.

Well, if'n ya'll want more paranoia: You know those cell phones with the built in GPS? Real handy to find your way to the store, right? It works both ways. Guess what the feds can do with it? Guess why the feds mandated that the cell phones have them?

Very true, But they only work when turned " On"

I like my phones, to be phones. .( Period.) Cars to be cars. If I need to find my way home, I'll leave a trail of bread crumbs!

These devices record when the car is "on".

Ask the folks that have rented a car or truck and been presented an extra tab because they broke the law while driving it!

And those turnpike and other toll road express passes that are linked to a sensor in your car? Think they can't figure out your average speed between toll booths? And if you think you can outsmart it by always allowing for a rest area stop on the tollway like cough someone I know cough used to, the Florida Turnpike is now installing cameras linked to pole and guardrail mounted radar detectors, which also pick up your Sunpass information. Wonder what that could be for. To gradually force most regular users onto the system, they have also made some exits Sunpass only exits. So you cannot use what was formerly legal tender to pay a bill to the state. Seems like a constitutional violation in there like a violation of the commerce clause, but what do I know.

I have heard that ECU's are being hacked all the time to do things like make the cars pass various state smog and other inspection programs. How long do you think it would take for someone to hack the data delivery function of the ECU so that you never go more than 66 MPH and it always take me than 10 seconds to get there?

Type Q wrote: I have heard that ECU's are being hacked all the time to do things like make the cars pass various state smog and other inspection programs. How long do you think it would take for someone to hack the data delivery function of the ECU so that you never go more than 66 MPH and it always take me than 10 seconds to get there?

Very True, For every ingenious control, there are many , many hundreds out there working even harder to hack a cure!

Never loose faith in Gear heads!

Jusy as we swapped windshields between Pontiacs in the 1960's to beat PA Inspection. One, a drag GTO, the other the aunts Tempest!

Not on any of my vehicles. Since I always plan, at least subconsciously, for a dystopian future where these things may be forced on me, I've picked out two vehicles to suit. A speedy coupe for escaping the police and running light contraband (which will be replaced with increasingly speedy vehicles) and a jeep for busting down fences (well with some bull bars) while someone shoots out the back with a mounted machine gun, both ready to run on ethanol distilled at the rebel camp after an EFI swap. Ahem, but back on topic...

Also your new cell phone doesn't need to have GPS for you to be tracked with it, it just needs to be on - the service provider can triangulate your position based on which cell towers it's connected to (this is the difference between a Global Position System and Cell Tower Triangulation - they're both called GPS in the advertisements unfortunately).

Again I've planned ahead with a phone that I know is incapable of reporting GPS coordinates over the cellular network automatically and can do a wide variety of tasks with no cellular connection. My next phone will be a Treo 755p which is also incapable of reporting GPS data. In any case, you're safe once you switch your phone's radio off.

The best solution for all you tinfoil hat guys: a Model T Ford. No computers to worry about, it will go just about anywhere, you can fix it with a screwdriver, hammer and a pair of pliers, and it has a compression ratio of about 4:1 so it will run on just about anything. Oh, and get rid of the cellphone and use payphones instead.

If you guys remember OBD IV, it was a similair program. The current OBD III already has the ability to rat you out for speeding or polluting or not following the maint schedule and ODB IV was going to enable to car to do this wirelessly. But privacy folks and gearheads shut that down.

Whats interesting to me is that if the goverment tries this, we can usually get it shut down, but as soon as a compnay does it, we all line up like sheep.

Big Brother is companies, not the goverment. Right now your On-Star equiped vehicle can have most of the controls taken over by an operator sitting in a call center thousands of miles away. We would never let the goverment do this, but pay extra for the privledge of having GM do it.

Carburetored RX-7 FTW!

No gubment/insurance clot is getting anywhere near my cars with a black box.

P71 wrote: Carburetored RX-7 FTW! No gubment/insurance clot is getting anywhere near my cars with a black box.

even if they did, would they know what to do with it? WTF?!? spinning triangles?

It has USTs... Alien technology uncoved after nuclear holocaust!

Here is the fix for any GPS devices your car may have in it. GPS Jammer

Strizzo wrote:

P71 wrote: Carburetored RX-7 FTW! No gubment/insurance clot is getting anywhere near my cars with a black box.

even if they did, would they know what to do with it? WTF?!? magical spinning triangles?

fixed it

stuart in mn wrote: The best solution for all you tinfoil hat guys: a Model T Ford. No computers to worry about, it will go just about anywhere, you can fix it with a screwdriver, hammer and a pair of pliers, and it has a compression ratio of about 4:1 so it will run on just about anything.

Good idea, but I'd rather use an aircooled Beetle. More rugged for more climates, and a bit faster and more weatherproof.

mtn wrote:

Strizzo wrote:

P71 wrote: Carburetored RX-7 FTW! No gubment/insurance clot is getting anywhere near my cars with a black box.

even if they did, would they know what to do with it? WTF?!? magical spinning triangles?

fixed it

No worrying about the feds/insurance, even mazda doesnt know how the damn things work. They just put a couple random parts together with some triangles, add air and gasoline, and voila, magic spinning wonders.

rwdsport wrote:

mtn wrote:

Strizzo wrote:

P71 wrote: Carburetored RX-7 FTW! No gubment/insurance clot is getting anywhere near my cars with a black box.

even if they did, would they know what to do with it? WTF?!? magical spinning triangles?

fixed it

No worrying about the feds/insurance, even mazda doesnt know how the damn things work. They just put a couple random parts together with some triangles, add air and gasoline, and voila, magic spinning wonders.

It's kinda like the exploding Fantastic Contrapsions. They shouldn't work. Nobody knows why they do. They just do.

The real answer is 1995 Impala SS - OBD1, (somewhat) fast, and built like a tank.

I think my electronic box would cause some light to blink down at the police station.

so much for considering going to progressive