It's official: black boxes in all US cars by '08

[Ginger]

That wasn't the point. You were saying it only had enough memory for a few seconds of data, my car has this now. Combine current tech w/ the onstar ability and you just found unlimited data. See the point? It's like a house of cards, knock over one, and the rest keeps crashing down.

I saw that point, but I don't think that it's a domino effect like you do.

I addressed that they could store up to a month... and what if they do? Yes, the technology absolutely exists to track you everywhere and store it... but that doesn't mean that it's getting used. The national black box isn't attached to a system that will send off reports, and aside from the fact that I don't think it's a cost feasible situation to put those features in place in every car I think that it's a different situation entirely.

If the equipment were being used by authorities the way OnStar has demonstrated that they use it then I would be concerned. However, I don't see our legal system allowing that at all. We've got the technology to do a lot of things that we don't do. In this instance, a device produced by independent companies, installed and used by yet other independent vehicle manufacturers, and finally, observed by every mechanic, shadetree mechanic, electrcian and rocket scientist that's even taken a peek under the hood of their own car - it would be impossible to slip a device like that past a blind eye. If somehow the transmitting, tracking black box were mandatorily slipped through our legal system and installed in every car in America then it wouldn't be long before folks knew about it and we started seeing a group of pissed off people rally against it.