The Next Data Privacy Battle May Be Waged Inside Your Car

The NYTimes article does not mention that the Government wants to use the data to introduce a new road tax based where you drive and how many miles you drive your car. The GPS function will indicate what routes you mostly travel and you will be taxed accordingly. So if you travel a certain highway and across certain bridges, your road tax obligation will be higher than those who do not. It is being justified as a future infrastructure tax.

No doubt people will try to tamper with these black boxes. If they are going to be used to assess a tax burden then it would be folly to do so. All the concerns an individual has about privacy will be trumped by tax law. Brutal.

 

My 63 Vette isn't "wired", so they can kiss its rubber.

 

I prefer cars that don't even have computers

 

Dont worry, your friendly DMV office will force you to install one.

 

It's not that simple. On vehicles from the 70s on back, you would have to practically rebuild them. So, unless they plan to outlaw classic vehicle collecting there are ways to get around it. They don't need this crap anyway. With road cameras and more, any reason for these things is already covered. And the DMV is doubtfully going to force you to do anything. You can't even go to their office anymore. Unless you have a very special request or case, they don't want you in there. License plates and just about everything else is done on their website now. They do force that.