«It’s not that I have something to hide. I have nothing I want you to see.» Anon, why she hides her life in an age of digital surveillance, in «Anon» Yesterday, a group of students presented their app designed to help people drive more environment friendly. The app uses a Bluetooth dongle to read the data from the car (e.g., speed, acceleration, etc.), sends it to the smartphone where the information is evaluated and stored to provide the user with information on how to improve his behavior — in real time and based on past driving behavior (hence, the storage). At least, if I understand it correctly. There are some issues with this approach (see also this posting: “The Lure of the Screen in App Development”) but what struck me was the possible legal consequences. Think about it, you are essentially turning the smartphone into a black box, otherwise used in planes and … installations where things can go terribly wrong. So what happens if the users car gets into an accident. You can now access the smartphone and check the information at the time of the crash (i.e., shortly before a very sharp acceleration/deceleration and before the movement stops). [...]
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