About a year ago I heard a news report on the radio that a very similar insurance tracking system, (such as the one in the BBC story), was being evaluated in the US. My thoughts at the time were that no consumer would want to trade their freedom and privacy just to save a few dollars. But, I guess I should never underestimate the stupidity of people who only think short-range.
I don't have anything to hide about where I drive, but, just the same, that doesn't mean that I want it to be recorded by a private firm or by the state. It is hard to understand why someone would willfully give permission to some company to monitor that person's every move in a car - day and night. Strong overtones of Big Brother getting closer and closer to reality (the book 1984 - not the TV show
).
But you never can tell, some folks think increased government control is fine. For example, people live and work in Singapore with some of the most restrictive laws in the world. The authorities there would argue that the city's strict laws help protect everyone and ensure a peaceful place to live. But given the power to control the minutiae of everyday life, look where at the absurd level this has taken them: The Singaporean government assumed every citizen who enjoys chewing gum posed a threat of carelessly discarding the gum, fouling the sidewalks or other public places. To the bureaucrats this threat was pervasive and intolerable. Their solution: Chewing gum is completely banned - and they back that up with a $10,000 fine for importation of chewing gum. Most people probably didn't care about not being able to chew gum, but what the government did was to take away from each person the little freedom of
choosing to enjoy a piece of gum as well as the
choice of acting responsibly to dispose of the gum. These subtle erosions of simple freedoms can have a huge cumulative effect.
To me, the insurance policy that spys on you is just such an erosion.