Mandatory “Black Boxes” Can Track a Driver’s Every Move Lake Havasu City, AZ – On September 1, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) quietly approved a new regulation that requires automakers to install event data recorders (EDRs) in all new vehicles. According to the NHTSA, EDRs are essentially a car’s “black box” that record information related to vehicle crashes or accidents. “The amount of data that these devices can record is astonishing,” Supervisor Buster Johnson stated. Although roughly 96% of all car manufactures already install these black boxes on new vehicles, Supervisor Johnson is concerned that there isn’t enough safe guards put into place to protect the data that is produced from these boxes. “If we are going to mandate EDRs, there needs to be regulations put into place so the information obtained through them are not used to harm the American people,” Johnson said. EDRs were first introduced to the auto industry in the early 1970s. General Motors installed them into airbags to capture information on why airbags deployed. It wasn’t until the late 1990’s that the NHTSA completed a study to see what further information could be compiled from these devices. EDRs became popular in the early 2000s when car manufactures started developing full-fledged “black boxes” to capture more data from various places throughout the car not just the airbag. Numerous attempts have been made to enact legislation that would mandate EDRs. In fact, the NHTSA held back on mandating EDRs in 2010 due to their hope that Congress would act. Many individuals and professionals have had privacy concerns over the years when it comes to these black boxes. “There are no rules to go along with this new regulation saying what the information obtained from these black boxes can be used for,” Johnson stated. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) completed a study that showed that as many as 23 companies were profiting off crash data hacking. “Companies are basically taking the information from these boxes and using it to track owner’s driving habits,” Johnson explained. To date, only 14 states, Arizona not being one of them, have enacted statutes relating to event data recorders and privacy. Aside from privacy concerns, Supervisor Johnson is among many individuals who feel that with the growing popularity of internet connected devices comes a much greater need to be concerned about the safety of the American people. During the 2013 Black Hat and DefCon conferences, a group of researchers showed the dangers of what hacking a Toyota Prius would look like. “As cars become more connected to the internet, there is always the possibility of hackers being able to break into the controls of a car and cause an accident,” Johnson said. During the 2013 conference, hackers demonstrated how easy it was to hack into a Toyota Prius and disable the brakes and change the speed indicator. “While many of these new advances in technology are making our lives more convenient, they are also leaving us all vulnerable to cyber-attacks,” Johnson ended.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 17:59:57 +0000
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