Thread: Behold, the future...No thanks!!

You guys have to watch this, and then take my poll!
To me this is a tad scary! I dont like the possibilities. Where this sort of technology can go is just...shall we say that it has serious Orwellian overtones!

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i had my truck stolen one time and i wish i had some way to stop them in thier tracks.the truck was old but what was inside was worth more than the truck. i was lucky they got cought at the gas pumpthree miles away.lucky it was the cops and not me.

Where's the "Maybe" response option??

I have mixed feelings about the technology. I'm not vehemently opposed to it as I'm sure some are. I have a differing opinion about the loss of civil liberties and personal freedom than many do. I ascribe to the old saying: "People who have nothing to hide hide nothing".

However, even though my opinion differs than many, I share the same concerns. I could give a rip if "the law" even stopped and randomly searched my car, my home or me; BUT....unfortunately such powers foster abuse of said powers ("absolute power corrupts absolutely"). Getting stopped by "the man" doesn't scare me because I think I'll get busted for something (OK, yeah, there was a time in my life when it did), it would concern me now if as a completely innocent person powers similar to this could be abused by a person in a position of authority to, well, abuse me.

Chris L

The technology is neat,I'll give you that, and the benefits could be great, assuming your dealing with a benign government! Not an assumption I am willing to make!

I thought we covered this one once before.. but i did not see it in the search. the onstar system keeps me from buying another GM product and the technology has been available ever since onstar first came out. By the way any one notice that the government is about to buy the auto makers? just think have great this will be when they have it set so that your car is designed to only go up to the speed limit... and the police will be able to stop you from their car, maybe to "check your travel papers" at will. Oh happy day!

nope I'm not a conspiracy theorist just analyzing the trends

To me, it's like most of the gun control legislation.

The people that really need to be controlled by this kind of thing are most likely to be the ones that will find ways to get around it, leaving the rest of us with unnecessary control devices invading our privacy.

Though, I could see it being very useful in the event of a random idiot running from the cops, which may or may not justify the overall implementation.

Well, I have some interesting news for you guys. This system is not new and not "revolutionary". We have it on our car here in Modena. It didn't come from the manufacturer but from the insurance company. They offered us a discount on our insurance if we would have it installed and we opted to save the money. If the car is stolen, we send an SMS to the company that makes the device and the car is turned off where ever it is. Until I read this thread, I never even thought twice about it since it was installed. Yeah, I suppose when the dictatorship arrives I won't be able to flee in my car but the fact is, with the traffic here, I wouldn't be able to flee very far or fast anyway.

For those of you wondering how OnStar works (I think). OnStar talks to the car via satellite. The car talks to OnStar via cellular phone (used to be analog cellular phone which has been turned off for the most part. Bad news for older cars but that's a different story). The OnStar module always listens to the satellite when it can "see" it so it knows it's location and can receive commands when sent from OnStar. When the module needs to relay/report information to OnStar galatic headquarters it makes a cell phone call.

For example if you crash, the module detects that (most likely air bag deployment) over the OBD network in your car. It makes a cell phone call to OnStar and reports the event and location. If you happened to call OnStar (on your own phone) to ask for directions, they would send a command to your module via satellite telling it to report the car's current location. If you call through your OnStar system in the car then they already have the cell phone connection.

OBD I (On Board Diagnostics?) came out on cars about 1994. This is basically a network for the electronic control modules in your car to talk to each other and a diagnostics port. Engine control module, transmission control module, fans, sun roof, etc, etc. Just about everything now adays has a control module on one of the 2 or 3 networks in your car.
OBD II was required in cars about 1996? Expanded on OBD I with a much larger set of required diagnostic parameters.

The OnStar module is a node on the network much like the diagnostics port that your mechanic plugs a scan tool into to read trouble codes and engine/transmission/etc parameters.

The way this would work is that OnStar would send a command to the OnStar module in your car from the satellite telling it to send a command to the electronic control module for your engine. They wouldn't really need to know the location of the car to do this. They would just send it to/through the satellites covering your general region. The car would have to be able to "see" the satellite (wouldn't work inside a parking garage or maybe under heavy tree coverage or deep canyon or the likes).

I have much the same system with my Clifford alarm GPS module.

This is not new technology. The OnStar system (and any private GPS usage) has been around for a long time. What is new is that GM and OnStar have added an additional "shutdown" command to their existing electronic control modules.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

To me, it's like most of the gun control legislation.

The people that really need to be controlled by this kind of thing are most likely to be the ones that will find ways to get around it, leaving the rest of us with unnecessary control devices invading our privacy.

I see it a bit differently.

Criminals will have guns, whether there is legislation or not.
Responsible gun owners will be responsible gun owners, whether there is legislation or not.
But the middle group of yoohoos who want to just have guns for whatever reason, but are not capable (in whatever way) of being responsible gun owners... these are the ones that will be denied guns under legislation.

Gun ownership (over here at least) requires
1) background check
2) theoretical exam
3) practical exam
4) membership of a shooting range or hunting license
5) having and using a gun safe to store guns and ammo

So the legislation is basically meant to weed out the idiots and people who cannot be trusted with guns. This is fair enough imo.

This car technology otoh has nothing to do with the car owner. Instead it is about the police being able to do whatever they want without your consent. This is yet another way in which the government controls what you can do, regardless of whether you are a responsible, law abiding citizen or not.

What "invasion of privacy" are we talking about? I am very confused? The constitution gurantees freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. I see no violation of the constitution in this technology. Further, the Federal Government is granted the express authority to regulate interstate commerce, which would necessarily include the regulation of highways, and the vehilces which travel on them. I see the mandated use of this technology all ready well within the existing powers of the Federal Government.

The police, and the government, do things all the time without people's consent. I have never once consented to being the subject of a traffic stop, but I comply becasue I am a law abiding citizen. I do not consent to pay taxes, but I do, because I am a law abiding citizen. When was the last time anyone of us agreed to get pulled over, or agreed to pay the fine imposed by such governmental action.

I see the benefit of this type of technology well overshadows the potential harm. If somehow my vehcile was stopped by this technology, what harm would come of it? I call the provider (on star in this case) and tell them to release my car. However, some nut that stole a vehcile is racing 90 miles an hour through a residential neighborhood, where children play outside all the time, and the police are able to bring that vehcile to a stop without utilized the PIT manuver, that's a great benefit.



Matt