Auto manufacturers take you civil liberties for a ride
Kenneth Griggs Herald/Country Market Reporter

If you are driving a 2004 or 2005 model vehicle there is a 65-90 percent chance your car is equipped with an event data recorder (EDR)--a device similar to an airplane's black box. The black box records everything from your speed to whether your seatbelt is fastened, in five second intervals. The goal, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, is increased safety on the roads.

Of course, safety should go hand in hand with honesty and openness, but generally people don't even know their automobiles are being monitored. Safety or not, some say recording anything, even if the information is incidental and menial, is infringing on privacy and taking your civil liberties for a ride.

Though newer vehicles are equipped with the devices on a much higher percentage, manufacturers have placed EDRs in vehicles beginning in the 1990s. Many articles and reports about black boxes say the time frame for installation of the boxes varies from 1990 to 2001. Because car companies have remained secretive and the NHTSA has no regulations about installation or reporting, pin-pointing an exact date when these boxes started appearing is nearly impossible. continued...

 

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