In this case, it is a good thing. The guy deserves to be locked away for a while. Still, I can only imagine where this might lead in twenty years (insurance agent: "Harry, the box here says you went 140 mph last week." Harry: "I was driving on a private, legal road, not a public road way." insurance agent: "Sorry, racing on a track is not covered by your policy, you're dropped.", or maybe, "No, according to the GPS data, you were running up the NE Extension of the PA Turnpike.")

I read an article about a city that started putting them in their police cruisers .... reduced the number of collisions they were involved in by half
 

Here's a USA Today article about a black box lawsuit: GM sued over automobile 'black boxes'
 

Thanks for the articles Teri, they were very informative. I didn't know my car had this. I'll have to go back and re-read my owner's manual and see what it says.

This raises very interesting and serious questions over protections of our privacies. People don't like to fnd out they've been under "covert" surveillance. I'll be curious to know how the courts will rule on the admissability of this data. Depending on the circumstances, it could raise possible 5th Ammendment concerns if the vehicle owner refuses to grant permission for the data to be downloaded.

Now that the police are aware of it, how long would it be before they had the tools to download this data remotely for use in traffic enforcement? Not to be an alarmist, but it would sure unclog traffic court if they had the data that basically catches a motorist in the act.

Hmmmm...............

Andy
 

Often enough, safety and freedom don't compliment one another.