Big Brother

Last week I began participation in a pilot program for AAA. I am thrilled about $100 in gas cards and %5 off next year’s insurance charges and the other fun stuff to come my way. I don’t even mind the round black GPS container affixed to my dash. I am, however, a little concerned that ever movement of my car is being monitored. Granted there are numerous benefits:

1. there is a button and speaker in my car so that AAA is just a push away
2. with the GPS they will know exactly where to send the service truck (let’s hope I never have cause to use this feature)
3. I can login to the web site and see the exact route my car traveled that day, how long the trip was and at what speed I was traveling
4. I can set up alerts so that I receive a text message or email every time I reach or surpass a certain speed (this feature will not be activated)
5. I can receive a text or email every time my car goes outside a preselected area (a Geofence)
6. I can also view my speeding history to see if at any time I have exceeded the maximum speed limit I selected
7. At any time I can login and see where my vehicle is located

Now all of these features would be fascinating if I was stalking myself, there are in fact many scenarios where some or all of this information could be very helpful. But I can’t help wondering where all this information is going to go. Do I really want to receive 50 text messages every time I get on the freeway and exceed my selected speed limit? If I set the limit at 90 will that be a red flag for the pilot observers? All I can say is that I am glad that as a 16 year old my parents did not put one of these into their cars-although looking back it may not have been a bad thing. In fact during the 90 minutes I waited for the thing to be installed almost every other participant mentioned how great this will be for keeping an eye on their kids. My issue with this is –are they going to hold themselves the same standards (especially as regarding speed) as they hold their children. One can hope.

Quote from the memo: “…we believe this technology has huge potential as a safety device….[you] can view driving reports that can help [you] improve [your] driving behavior. But a lot of what we’ll use this for is still to be determined….”