Posted on 07/09/2012 10:26:36 AM PDT by nascarnation
Privacy is highly valued – until we can sell it for a small discount. Hundreds of thousands of auto insurance customers allowed an electronic ankle bracelet fitted to their car in exchange for a possible insurance discount. A year ago, Progressive offered its “”Snapshot“ device. It plugs into your car’s OBD system keeps and collects data that help Progressive to profile your driving. According to Reuters, Progressive already analyzed more than 5 billion driven miles. The company says its driving-behavior data is twice as good as any other factor in predicting risk, and that bad drivers cost Progressive more than twice as much as good ones.
(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutcars.com ...
“While I oppose any mandates from government to track my behavior or travel, I have no concern with private companies attempting to make the insurance industry more competitive”
I don’t think anyone’s against competition, at least not on this website.
But do you have a concern with private companies tracking your behavior and travel habits (of which said information can easily be sold to anyone, including marketing companies, political rivals; even the government itself)?
It’s intentional.
The information that came to light in the late '70s about GEICO donating radar guns to law-enforcement agencies probably helped sell more radar detectors than the little green guy would care to admit.
I have a device that attaches to the OBD II port as does this "Progressive" gizmo.My thing can be set to record up to five different parameters at one second intervals.I have mine set to record speed,engine RPM,manifold intake temp,battery charge and another thing I can't recall.Mine must be removed periodically and be connected to a PC to view the data...it doesn't transmit any info.My hunch is that the "Progressive" gizmo records the same kind of data and that it,too,must be removed and hooked up to a computer.
So, what behavior is “good” and what “bad”?
Good = makes Flo money
Bad = costs Flo money
There are “smart toilets” that can analyze your biowaste.
When can we expect to be “tax penalized” if we do not have one of these installed (and tracked by government health offices)?
Don’t know. Right now it’s a voluntary thing from an insurance company. And not necessarily a bad idea, given that insurance is all about risk mitigation the more risk they know about the easier it is to mitigate, and also drivers like me (I speed every time I drive) will never sign up for it, which makes their lives a little easier too (not that I get in a lot of accidents, but I do realize I’m bucking the odds), Verizon taught the world that getting rid of expensive customers is good for the bottom line.
As long as it’s voluntary everybody can make their choices. I choose no. But if I drove like my grandfather (never a single ticket in his life, never an accident, always followed the speed limit) I might choose yes.
Cell phone data link
http://allthingsd.com/20110407/progressive-insurance-taps-att-to-get-a-snapshot-of-customers-driving-habits/
ping to #48
No thanks, Flo.
Give it a tin foil hat.
Yep.
But there is little one can do these days. Technology isn't going away any time soon.
I get very concerned with government attempts to control our access to technology. I just viewed a video of what I believe was a commercial trucker in Virginia being stopped by police because they detected his radar detector. Evidently it is illegal for the trucker to use.
The trucker managed to keep the thing hidden because he was able to power it down and because the controls were hidden in plain sight. As our government continues its slide down the slippery slope we will need all the counter-measures we can manage to fight back.
“The trucking fleets are all using similar strategy.”
Yep it’s called Qualcomm.
I see texting/ flapping gums on cell phone, swilling coffee, reading book/newspaper, putting on makeup, getting dressed, driving with pet(s)/ small child on lap, watching TV/movie, eating, etc.
The literally dictate most of our Post WW2 laws on the books. They have a huge lobbying network and basically what they ask out of state and federal lawmakers they get. No Doubt that mandatory seat belt laws are amongst such laws they demand and get. Notice as well they have a way for getting Mandatory purchase of their product passed into law. I believe many insurers are quietly behind Obamacare ad have lobbied congress accordingly. They have the most to gain.
A couple more years and all cars made in the USA will have snitch boxes factory installed. Guess who's idea it likely was to lobby so it would be passed into law? The Insurers perhaps? Most laws written today are to cover their profit margins in the new Nanny State Insurers helped create. The corrupt B@$%@##$ think everything is their business and government can reduce their loss margin for them.
Progressive insurance is a leftist group with leftist corporate principles, which actually means no principles.
I will pay for privacy. Real privacy. I pay for it now. I use no rewards cards. i use no special gimmicks.
They already do, it’s called the computer, all this does is hook to a port (which they all have) and store selected data (which you can actually buy your own device to do this if you want). Every car made has had these for about 20 years. So you’re kind of behind the times. And yet we only have one insurance company using them.
Progressive used to mean Liberal but the younger generation doesn't know it. As for reward or loyality cards in stores? LOL I beat stores at their own game. I enjoy their discounts. My names include Gomez Addams, Elmer Fudd, Herman Munster, and others with a bogus address of course like 1313 Mockingbird Lane LOL. I never, ever, give them my personal information.
The ones coming in a fewyears are a little more telling as they will also track location etc. On the older vehicles disconnecting it a few minutes generally killed their memory but not the programing. IOW on some Dodge Vans for example if you unhooked the battery it would take an hour or two driving for it to completely retrain engine timing etc in some cases.
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