O.T. - Calf law aginst 'black boxes'...

Privacy Law in California Shields Drivers By MATTHEW L. WALD

ASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - California today adopted the nation's first law meant to protect the privacy of drivers whose cars are equipped with "black boxes," or data recorders that can be used to gather vital information on how a vehicle is being driven in the last seconds before a crash.

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Gov. Gray Davis signed the law, which takes effect on July 1, requiring carmakers to disclose the existence of such devices and forbidding access to the data without either a court order or the owner's permission, unless it is for a safety study in which the information cannot be traced back to the car.

More than 25 million cars and trucks have the boxes that measure speed, air-bag deployment and the use of brakes, seat belts and turn signals. But California's privacy law is the first of its kind, says Thomas M. Kowalick, co-chairman of a committee convened by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to set standards for the boxes. Most of the recorders are on General Motors vehicles, but Ford and others have deployed some. Other manufacturers have plans to do the same.

The police in South Dakota sought information from such a recorder to determine whether Bill Janklow, a member of the House of Representatives and a former governor of the state, had run a stop sign and was speeding on Aug.

16 when he hit and killed a motorcycle rider near Flandreau. But Maj. James Carpenter of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said that because the car was not a recent model - it was a 1995 Cadillac - it had limited information.

The California bill was introduced by Tim Leslie, a Republican assemblyman, who contended that the devices were installed without the owner's knowledge or consent and that the information they gathered should be subject to the same legal protections as provided by the Fourth Amendment for other kinds of private information. He compared it to the process for getting permission to tap a telephone.

Mr. Leslie's legislative director, Kevin O'Neill, said in a telephone interview that in the case of a crash that resulted in civil litigation or criminal prosecution, the data would be obtainable by court order. But the information should be protected by a process, Mr. O'Neill said

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Reply to
Ralph Snart
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Yea... well... if you read the newspapers out here, it's a whole nother story. The insurance copmpanies want the info, the police want the info and even ex's want the info.

Typical California....

yup, sure glad we only have a few months left here.

Kate

Reply to
SVTKate

Colorado is the place you should be....

information.

Reply to
Ralph Snart

Another good reason to pick up a 65' and restore it :)

Representatives

Reply to
Chief Wiggum

nother

Aww.. c'mon Kate..Don't ya wanna stay and see who the governator is?

Can't wait to see how the Shwarzenator runs the state! Mandatory drug testing to make sure everyone is ON steroids...all schools thrugh graduate degree programs required to have 3 hours of phys ed per day..Austrian would become a required language in high school....just think of the possibilites!

Matt

Reply to
Matt

Is there an Austrian language? I thought they spoke German.

Reply to
Fred Brown

at 24 Sep 2003, Fred Brown [ snipped-for-privacy@hushedmail.com] wrote in news:3f71c973$0$15198$ snipped-for-privacy@newscene.com:

Like the Canadians speak English. :-) There is a difference...

Reply to
Paul

Good, then maybe other states would follow this lead and there wouldn't be so many overweight kids and parents....thus lowering health care costs, leaving more money for the school system, etc. Hell, just cut it down to an hour and that should do it.

Iggy '01 Dyna Super Glide '96 Mustang GT Convertible Keep your powder dry and don't let your meat-loaf. :o)

Reply to
SRQEagan

Don't forget the mandatory pot smoking and group sex... :)

Reply to
Scott in Aztlan

that is good

yeah when i first read my owner's manual about that thing i was like WTF!

big brother all over the place

my 96 didn't have it, but my 03 does

assemblyman,

Reply to
Christopher Shea

If one is in an accident, I wonder just how difficult it would be for the other party, or the police, to get such a court order?

Remember, these "black boxes" > ... and forbidding access to

Reply to
Walt

What do you mean by that, eh?

Reply to
Blue88LX

Yet... just wait. Insurance companies will be after this like Oprah after cake. What better way to deny a claim than to be able to prove that the owner of a car often used full throttle acceleration! and sometimes, even exceeded the lawful speed limit! GASP!

Reply to
Blue88LX

at 28 Sep 2003, Blue88LX [ snipped-for-privacy@home.com] wrote in news:afFdb.37433$I36.9820@pd7tw3no:

you just proved the point, eh. :-)

Reply to
Paul

Reply to
Walt

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