EU to fit every car in the EU with tracker chips, supposedly to help emergency services

[Fetzie]

Well, it's pretty much what is happening.

 

Makes it sound like the EU is singling out British drivers, when it is going to be introduced across Europe. And "bugging" has connotations of it being introduced for the sole purpose of finding out where people are driving for intelligence services. How about:

 

"EU mandates tracking devices in cars to help emergency services find accident victims"?

 

Bit less Daily Mail-esque.

[kuddlesworth9419]

You know what I would prefer it if my government made it mandatory for all cars to be limited to only doing a maximum speed of 70 MPH. I really don't understand why it's not a thing because ti would be really easy to do in all modern cars and it would probably save a bunch of lives. After just learning to drive and taking my test soon I have realised how many stupid things people do on the roads, like overtake you on a bend at 90 MPH when you are doing 58ish in a 60 MPH area just because you are a learner. 

 

In question though I don't see this tech helping at all because the UK is fairly small and people will notice if you go missing or see your car in the middle of a field. Other then that I could see mine and others insurance premiums go don because they actually drive safely but others will see their insurance premiums go up by a lot because they drive like wankers on the road. SO this will probably help safety wise in all. The big brother thing is utter crap if I am honest, does it really matter or mean anything if your insurance company or your government can see where you are driving to and from all the time. Not that they give a crap anyway. If it was internet monitoring though I can see that being a problem privacy wise because you are in your own home and your home is private but being in a car is not a private are it is public.

[Jobobee]

Makes it sound like the EU is singling out British drivers, when it is going to be introduced across Europe. And "bugging" has connotations of it being introduced for the sole purpose of finding out where people are driving for intelligence services. How about:

 

"EU mandates tracking devices in cars to help emergency services find accident victims"?

 

Bit less Daily Mail-esque.

I have yet to find anything to say that it's happening in other countries.

[Murdoch]

It's kinda funny how the Daily Mail can spin anything to make it Anti-Europe.

 

I've heard countless British politicians express a will to implement a system such as this, it's been proposed multiple times, as a way of establishing a 'proportional road tax' system. Make no mistake, if a system like this does come into play, it might be initially forced on us by Europe, but it will be the UK government that abuses it.

 

Edit: article from 2009, showing that the UK was one of the main 'state backers'

 

  http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/mar/31/surveillance-transport-communication-box

[Fetzie]

I have yet to find anything to say that it's happening in other countries.

 

You wrote in the OP:

 

 

The European Commission has ruled that by October next year, all new cars and vans sold across Europe must be fitted with the technology,

So yeah, Europe wide. You said so yourself.

[Jobobee]

You wrote in the OP:

But for now. I'll reword the whole thing.

[Jobobee]

It's kinda funny how the Daily Mail can spin anything to make it Anti-Europe.

 

I've heard countless British politicians express a will to implement a system such as this, it's been proposed multiple times, as a way of establishing a 'proportional road tax' system. Make no mistake, if a system like this does come into play, it might be initially forced on us by Europe, but it will be the UK government that abuses it.

I do have to say that I rather dislike the Daily Mail.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

I'm glad I don't live in the UK

 

Oh wait, the NSA...shit.

It isnt in the UK. It is an EU directive. Every EU member state will have to do this.

[Jobobee]

It isnt in the UK. It is an EU directive. Every EU member state will have to do this.

I half hate the EU and half love it.

[lufihengr]

You know what I would prefer it if my government made it mandatory for all cars to be limited to only doing a maximum speed of 70 MPH. 

That would take a lot of car manufacturers out of business, and would make overtaking more dangerous. Much safer to quickly zip past someone than to take so long that you have to have a lot of space before the next car comes by on the oncoming lane if it's a single carriageway.

[Jobobee]

You know what I would prefer it if my government made it mandatory for all cars to be limited to only doing a maximum speed of 70 MPH. I really don't understand why it's not a thing because ti would be really easy to do in all modern cars and it would probably save a bunch of lives. After just learning to drive and taking my test soon I have realised how many stupid things people do on the roads, like overtake you on a bend at 90 MPH when you are doing 58ish in a 60 MPH area just because you are a learner. 

 

That would take a lot of car manufacturers out of business, and would make overtaking more dangerous. Much safer to quickly zip past someone than to take so long that you have to have a lot of space before the next car comes by on the oncoming lane if it's a single carriageway.

I think that Japan actually limits the cars, but not to the speed limit, I think it's 190 km/h. The Nissan GTR uses GPS to see when you're at a racetrack and disables it when you're there.

[lufihengr]

I think that Japan actually limits the cars, but not to the speed limit, I think it's 190 km/h. The Nissan GTR uses GPS to see when you're at a racetrack and disables it when you're there.

Yes, just checked on wikipedia and that seems to be the case. 190 km/h is a lot better than 70 mp/h. 

[MG2R]

And next year's headline will be: "Government to use eCall to automatically fine you for driving over the limit by 2016"

Have predicted this would happen for years now, I'm surprised it lasted this long.

 

I'm not 100% sure how they actually transmit the data back
to them though, if anyone has any insight into that I'd
be curious about that. Or if they don't trasmit at all but
just download your routes when you have your car in the
garage?

I used to work at a garage for Volvo Trucks and I can assure

you that even if some manufacturers do this, it's definitely

not very widespread (at the moment). The only way to get

data off the car (or truck) would be either through cell-phone

networks (some cars already have these services, like onstar)

or through the OBD-II connector when you're in the garage.

[ACatWithThumbs]

If the tracker only activates with the airbag than this is actually awesome.
I bet this would save a lot of life.

 

[SeriuzBuzinez]

Just another reason why Britain needs to leave the EU as fast as possible...

 

How do we know they won't use this to invade our privacy???

[Almercenary]

And also and easy way to track people, not only for the emergency services, but for everyone who wants to.  IM guessing people will take them off who don't want to be tracked, so basically only "good people" will be tracked. Still, not the best idea I don't think. It will spawn a whole underground business of removing them and selling cars without them.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

I half hate the EU and half love it.

I dont know why you would even half love it? With any hope UKIP will win the next general election.

[Agons]

Ah, another reason for me not to buy a car in the future and stick with my motorcycle. Car sales will go up dramatically the year before this becomes a thing, just cause so many people wont want to be tracked every.(though most are by their cell's anyways, but that is another issue )

[MG2R]

Ah, another reason for me not to buy a car in the future and stick with my motorcycle. Car sales will go up dramatically the year before this becomes a thing, just cause so many people wont want to be tracked every.(though most are by their cell's anyways, but that is another issue )

what bike are you driving?

[Murdoch]

Just another reason why Britain needs to leave the EU as fast as possible...

 

How do we know they won't use this to invade our privacy???

 

The UK government has the worst record on privacy in the EU.

 

The UK heavily pioneered and backed this tracking system. It's such Daily Mail rhetoric to say that it's now completely out of our hands, and it's all Europe's fault.

 

It's such an easy scapegoat, to just blame the EU. It's exactly the same as the hot topic, immigration. The UK government WANTED a large influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, we were the only state that didn't bother to implement any immigration caps when new member states joined the EU. Opening up the UK job market to a cheap and flexible workforce drives labour costs down across the board. Then when people complain about too much immigration, their response is, 'well that's being part of the EU innit'.

 

And as simple as this tactic is, it works. Cause people are stupid.

[The_Edster]

I bet there's a way to hack to find out whether your wife is having an affair.

[Agons]

what bike are you driving?

kawasaki versys

[SeriuzBuzinez]

The UK government has the worst record on privacy in the EU.

 

The UK heavily pioneered and backed this tracking system. It's such Daily Mail rhetoric to say that it's now completely out of our hands, and it's all Europe's fault.

 

It's such an easy scapegoat, to just blame the EU. It's exactly the same as the hot topic, immigration. The UK government WANTED a large influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, we were the only state that didn't bother to implement any immigration caps when new member states joined the EU. Opening up the UK job market to a cheap and flexible workforce drives labour costs down across the board. Then when people complain about too much immigration, their response is, 'well that's being part of the EU innit'.

 

And as simple as this tactic is, it works. Cause people are stupid.

 

Exactly so we don't need stupid EU initiatives making this monitoring system mandatory, if people choose to want it then fine that's up to them but it shouldn't be made mandatory like how the EU wants it, the UK has said it don't mind it being optional but does not back having it as a mandatory solution... there is also a reason why there is no immigration cap for EU citizens, it is against the law for us to have one, and there is very little we can do about it and many other laws for our own country we can't even control, and at the end of the day the people of this country never got to have a say about any of this so we have a right to complain about it.

[Murdoch]

Exactly so we don't need stupid EU initiatives making this monitoring system mandatory, if people choose to want it then fine that's up to them but it shouldn't be made mandatory like how the EU wants it, the UK has said it don't mind it being optional but does not back having it as a mandatory solution... there is also a reason why there is no immigration cap for EU citizens, it is against the law for us to have one, and there is very little we can do about it and many other laws for our own country we can't even control, and at the end of the day the people of this country never got to have a say about any of this so we have a right to complain about it.

 

My point about immigration caps was regarding immigration from 'new EU member states'. Most countries have caps in place, we don't.

 

Honestly, considering everything we do to track people already in this country, do you honestly believe the UK doesn't want to track the location of every car on every journey? They are licking their lips, and they can blame Europe for it too? that's just a bonus.

 

I actually agree about the EU situation, but I think it's used by our Government to blur the lines and shift blame. It's my opinion that our Government is worse that the EU. The EU has a moderating effect on the UK government. So while I completely agree that I'd rather not have the EU dictating policy. It's probably not as bad as the alternative of the UK Government being given Carte Blanche.

 

I mean lets face it, the people in the UK are completely apathetic and have been subjugated to the point that political activism to them, consists of moaning a bit on the internet.

[Scheer]

Car manufacturers are already tracking their cars anyway

with current technology, at least some of them for some

of their cars.

If you have a manufacturer GPS in your car, I would always

operate under the assumption that you're being tracked and

your routes being stored on your car manufacturer's servers

somewhere.

I'm not 100% sure how they actually transmit the data back

to them though, if anyone has any insight into that I'd

be curious about that. Or if they don't trasmit at all but

just download your routes when you have your car in the

garage?

Either way, your privacy in this regard is alreayd seriously

compromised if you have a new-ish car as far as I can tell.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2014/01/07/Automakers-tracking-drivers-GPS-data/UPI-23881389122612/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/7/no-privacy-behind-the-wheel-your-car-might-be-spyi/?page=all

 

GM vehicles with OnStar use Verizon's cell network for the data and phone connection, but you have to pay for it...

 

While it is expensive (~$20/month), its also pretty awesome. 2010's and above you can use an app on your phone to unlock the vehicle if you locked your keys in it, and remote start it which I used a lot when staying in hotels where the remote couldn't go far enough. They also have a kill switch built in where law enforcement can shut the vehicle down and track it if stolen. I don't think the 09's and older had this... 09's and older loose some features, but you still get the emergency service where they call when it senses an accident and can send emergency services directly to your location, and monthly reports emailed to you like distance traveled, tire pressure, how long til oil change, etc...

 

I wonder if manufactures in the EU will be this comprehensive since they will be mandated to do 75% of it anyways, may as well put a bit more effort into it and make it really useful.