Talk about massive government overreach! Biden’s infrastructure bill reportedly puts monitoring technology into every new car. It’s under the guise of ‘drunk driving prevention. The device would make it where the car would pull over or not start at all. Where getting drunk drivers off the roads sounds nice, this is a massive overreach
“When the president signs the infrastructure bill into law, a personal choice to drive drunk may just take a back seat. It would put drunk-driving prevention technology in all new vehicles, as standard as seatbelts or airbags, said Otte.”
“So how does it work? In a few ways: automakers would be required to either install sensors that would passively monitor a driver’s breath, eye-movements or unusual driving activity, or they would need to measure their sweat.
“Alcohol detection technology has sensors, for example, in the start button or the steering wheel that would measure the amount of alcohol in a person’s sweat,” said Otte.”
“But some experts are pointing to privacy concerns over having drivers monitored by their own cars – and who would have access to that information.
Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney for digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told MarketWatch, “You want to be really careful that any system of technology that is basically driving surveillance doesn’t go beyond what it needs to be.”
Tien added, “Companies and the government sort of have aligned interests, and they’re kind of not aligned with consumers.”
So, here is my issue, aside from the obvious invasion of privacy in one’s own property. Who is to say that that’s the only use for this device? Will they be used to track law-abiding Americans? Can your car just be shut down while driving for any reason they deem ‘worthy’?
Where exactly is that line drawn? What’s to stop the government from abusing that data or spying on Americans with this technology?
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.
