Monday, January 3, 2011

Big Brother Now Riding Shotgun

I just found an article on the new Allstate program to electronically monitor drivers in order to provide them with a "discount."  You can read the article by clicking here. 

This type of technology has existed for a while, and I wondered why it took so long in coming.  In fact, given the GPS capabilities inherent in most smart phones, one could argue that it is already rolling around in your car. 

Call me paranoid, but this creeps me out.  What if Allstate chooses to not settle claims from accidents involving one of their clients who was speeding?  What if the government moves to mandate this technology for all cars because it "saves lives?" 

With my long trips back and forth to Minnesota, I've often pondered how long it would be that I'd actually be able to set my cruise control to 8 MPH higher than the posted speed, and to occasionally drive faster than that.  I knew a day would be coming that would take all of that away.  I'm just surprised that the day appears to be coming so soon.

3 comments:

  1. Progressive actually had a pilot program starting in Minnesota about 3 or 4 years ago. I tried to participate, but it was only open to their direct customers and I am through an agent.

    The information they provided is that it would never make your premium higher, just had the opportunity to make it lower. Now, what they say and what they do are probably two different things.
    This is now something that they offer to agent customers as well, but two limitations prevent me from pulling the trigger: my current auto is to old for the scanning equipment (87), and my wife's car puts on to many miles for this to make it worth attempting.

    ReplyDelete

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