Jack Brown · @jackearlbrown
26th Jun 2012 from Twitlonger
New standards regarding the performance of automotive black boxes and guidelines for retrieving data after a crash are set to go into effect in the next several months, raising privacy issues and setting up a clash between law enforcement and privacy advocates that could be fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court is already grappling with unprecedented cases involving the freedom from search and seizure provided by the Fourth Amendment and the privilege against self-incrimination provided by the Fifth Amendment.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1813/text
MAP-21 also sets out privacy rules that appear to favor you. “Any data in an event data recorder… is the property of the owner… or lessee,” the bill says. You can consent to let your dealer see the data for repair purposes, but that’s probably a non-issue because the same information can be stored elsewhere, by the car, outside the EDR. High-level accident investigators (not the police) can see the data if it’s scrubbed so there’s no personally identifiable information passed along. Emergency responders can access the data via an on-board data port to “facilitate” medical assistance. (Would they privately share the impact speed with the investigating officer? Hmmm.)
But it’s also available with a court order, which suggests a warrant might be issued in the case of a fatal accident and a zealous law enforcement agency might decide to seek the data in a range of lesser cases: any personal injury accident or speeding.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1813/text