Ford's Big Brother Patent Alerts Police About Your Speeding
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Ford's Big Brother Patent Alerts Police About Your Speeding
By Lauren Fix
Your vehicle is collecting lots of data about you and it not kept secret. If you are speeding are driving aggressively your car is telling the police about your driving in real time. Your vehicle is collecting information about cars around you as well, and uploading it to the cloud. So not only will your driving habits be published but also that of offline cars that in proximity to you as you drive. With cameras this would include the license plates.
Ford has filed a new patent called "Systems and Methods for Detecting Speeding Violations" that reveals the company is looking at ways to "automatically snitch" on speeding drivers. Ford's patent filing with the USPTO details a system using vehicles' cameras and sensors to detect speeding motorists and report them to authorities.
Looking at the patent is shows basic sketches and flow charts illustrate how this technology senses speed violations, activates cameras to capture images, and transmits data to nearby pursuit vehicles or logs it to a server. The captured data, including speed, GPS location, and clear imagery or video, can then be sent to authorities for potential action. Ford states this is for police cars, but it can be used on every car. This is coming to all cars soon.
We have covered the next-gen AI traffic cameras can now detect mobile phone use, seatbelt violations, and other distractions. This is being used in the UK today and are being installed across the USA with your tax dollars funding it.
Companies can now use technology to inform on you while driving. Car makers already have a habit of violating drivers’ privacy. A New York Times reporter found that General Motors 'tricked millions of drivers into being spied on' by tracking detailed driving data and adjusting insurance rates accordingly; those with supposedly poor driving behavior would see their rates increase.
In January 2023, Ford filed a patent application for a new technology that would allow it to track the driving behavior of vehicles on the road and report speeding violations to law enforcement. Vehicles would have cameras that activate if they detect speeding vehicles nearby and capture high-quality images of the offending vehicle and its identifying features, such as license plates or accessories attached to the offending car. Then, those images and GPS data would be shared with local law enforcement to decide whether to initiate a chase
Many believe that these cameras violate drivers’ privacy. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that corporations and governments worldwide already have methods to spy on their citizens. Governments have been found to hack into private individuals’ phones through software provided by corporations, and the NSA admits to purchasing Americans’ sensitive data.
Local law enforcement has always partnered with corporations to surveil the public by installing cameras to detect speeding and running red lights. These cameras have come under fire for their questionable legality and efficacy, spurring some states to ban them.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill to ban red-light cameras in 2019, two years after KXAN -NBC in Austin, Texas reported that almost all cities with red-light cameras had illegally issued traffic tickets. Their investigation also found that drivers paid the city of Austin over $7 million in fines since the cameras were installed, and cities in Texas made over $500 million from the cameras since 2007. This is the real reason cities want this technology. It’s a money grab.
For now, Ford’s new camera idea remains a patent application, so it's not certain whether we’ll see the snitching on you for going five mph over the limit, but no shocker its most likely in all vehicles already. When it does become a reality, we’ll probably see all vehicles snitching on you for no reason at all. After all, if red-light cameras are faulty, why won’t Ford’s and other brands cameras be?
General Motors has been sued by the state of Texas, which accused the automaker of installing technology on more than 14 million vehicles to collect data about drivers, which it then sold to insurers and other companies without drivers’ consent. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that a lawsuit arose from a probe announced in June into whether several automakers collected and sold mass amounts of data without drivers’ knowledge.
Paxton said GM’s data were used to compile “Driving Scores” assessing whether more than 1.8 million Texas drivers had “bad” habits such as speeding, braking too fast, steering too sharply into turns, not using seatbelts and driving late at night. Insurers could then use the data when deciding whether to raise premiums, cancel policies or deny coverage, Paxton said.
The technology was allegedly installed on most GM vehicles starting with the 2015 model year. Paxton said GM’s practice was for dealers to subject unwitting consumers who had just completed the stressful buying and leasing process into believing that enrolling in its OnStar diagnostic products, which collected the data, was mandatory.
“Companies are using invasive technology to violate the rights of our citizens in unthinkable ways,” Paxton said in a statement. “Our investigation revealed that General Motors has engaged in egregious business practices that violated Texans’ privacy and broke the law. We will hold them accountable.”
GM said in a statement: “We’ve been in discussions with the Attorney General’s office and are reviewing the complaint. We share the desire to protect consumers’ privacy.”
It seeks the destruction of improperly collected data, compensation for drivers, civil fines and other remedies for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Opt out of all tracking on your phone and your vehicle. We just can’t be sure that it actually stops tracking and sharing your data to penalize you.
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