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How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

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Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#141

Post by tashoecraft »

public_defender wrote: post #12
tashoecraft wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s great for you, but there’s been amazing advances in the world of automobile safety in the past 20 years. I’d rather improve my safety chances in an accident than worry about “tracking”.

This is a false choice. There is no reason that safety would require commercial surveillance. Also, why did you put the word tracking in quotation marks?

I agree, but that's not what the parent to whom I was responding to was describing. They said were holding on to their old car because of how simple and lacking of any tracking it had. I would prefer a newer car with better safety features even if it came with tracking.

Would I love a non tracking safer car? Sure, but options are pretty limited. You're saying it's a false choice to a statement I wasn't making.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#142

Post by public_defender »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #111
xadhominemx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They put it in quotes because no one is using these data to follow any individual’s life or movements. These days are all aggregated and/or anonymized before any detailed analysis.

How can this days be properly anonymized? Even just knowing where a car is parked every night narrowed it down a good bit in most areas, combiner that with where its parked during work hours and you're almost certainly anonymized. And yes, the analytics do track vehicle identifiers aren't truly anonymous. Many of the services Onstar offers, for example, wouldn't be possible without taking via unique identifier. The s…

I agree with this, and I think it's analogous to the 2021 Catholic Grindr tracking saga [0].

It would be difficult to keep this type of data safe (in the sense of not allowing someone to use it to exploit a private person) without all the exigencies of "running a business" in 2023. Once you add those considerations, it seems impossible.

Even if GP is correct and companies all anonymize the data before analysis (which I absolutely do not believe), I am still concerned with:

1) Sale to outside parties including government, 2) Rogue employee with a grudge or a side business, 3) Data breach, 4) Internal policy change (juice revenue with DTC marketing?)

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/22/data-ph...

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#143

Post by blueridge »

haspok wrote: post #131
blueridge wrote: post #2

https://archive.is/9IU8W I've got an old (2002) car, I love the buttons and knobs. No cameras, no screens, no key fob, no voice control, no electronic "safety" features, no tracking. The 4L straight six engine is still going strong at almost 300,000 miles. What's funny is watching my friends attempt to back out of the driveway or parking lot without a camera and screen. They put it in reverse and their eyes go right…

> The 4L straight six engine... Surely the mpg is excellent, and so are the emissions... (And don't call me Shirley!)

Oh the MPG is bad, emissions pass every time I renew! It's just a workhorse of an engine. It always starts and even in its old age has never left me stranded.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#144

Post by flagrant_taco »

ethbr0 wrote: post #140
flagrant_taco wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think those are side effects of covid itself or more related to our pandemic response (lock downs, closing schools, WFH, vaccines, or something else)? This was pre-pandemic response, but for a few years I drove a Toyota MR2 and had a couple motorcycles. I feel pretty damn lucky to never have seen what would have happened to me wrecking any of those vehicles.

How'd the MR2 drive? I've had one of those on my quirk to-buy list for awhile.

I loved that car, it was a second gen turbo with t-tops. It's effectively a street legal go-cart, actually very si.ilar to an early Lotus Elise if you've ever driven one.

I never had issues with it spinning around on my, though I was always very aware of how centered the weight balance was so it was clear when I was getting close to the edge.

I'd take a car like that over a true high performance vehicle any day. Taking a fast turn on public street at legal speeds was more engaging than doing 110 in a Corvette on a track in my opinion.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#145

Post by ethbr0 »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #144
ethbr0 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How'd the MR2 drive? I've had one of those on my quirk to-buy list for awhile.

I loved that car, it was a second gen turbo with t-tops. It's effectively a street legal go-cart, actually very si.ilar to an early Lotus Elise if you've ever driven one. I never had issues with it spinning around on my, though I was always very aware of how centered the weight balance was so it was clear when I was getting close to the edge. I'd take a car like that over a true high performance vehicle any day. Taki…

I had a Miata second gen 6-speed for a few years, and 110% agree on the fun level of street legal go-carts, over heavier but more powerful.

Thanks for the impression. I'll make sure to test drive one if the opportunity comes up.

RIP Miata/del Sol/Elise/MR2/S2000/CRX era

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#146

Post by fatnoah »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #98
fatnoah wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reverse cameras are one of the best things to happen to automobile safety in a long time. I agree, but I feel like cameras have made everyone feel the need to back into parking spaces, resulting in an epidemic of slightly askew cars that make it more difficult for everyone else to park. It's a small price to pay for increased safety, but it's stilkl annoying.

360 overhead parking views fix that problem, but they aren’t mandated yet.

Good point. I find that view to be far more useful than any other, though I'm never sure if that's my video game bias showing or not.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#147

Post by JohnFen »

Retric wrote: post #88
hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #53

It’s becoming impossible to practice what you preach when it comes to data privacy. ‘Don’t like it, don’t buy it’ is difficult to execute unless you don’t mind not having a car, mobile phone, tv, browse the internet or even go out in a public place. There needs to be regulation and at least the ability to at least easily opt out of any of this insanity, but until there’s one (or probably many) widespread data-breache…

If you don’t want to be tracked then you have to make sacrifices on the scale of not carrying around a cellphone. But that really doesn’t scale. Handing out your customers secrets doesn’t have a big red flag that automatically tells them you’re selling them out. That’s the core issue which has nothing to do with customer choices and why regulation is one of the few ways to give customers informed choices.

> If you don’t want to be tracked then you have to make sacrifices on the scale of not carrying around a cellphone.

If that's all that was required, I'd be thrilled.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#148

Post by JohnFen »

xnx wrote: post #126
hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name any major organisation that’s not selling data excluding companies such as signal and (presumably) apple…

Google, Facebook, Microsoft

Yes, but that's because they do the dirty work themselves. The dirty work is still being done. It's marginally better that they don't "sell" the data, but their collection and use of it is still horrible.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#149

Post by JohnFen »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #109
foobarbecue wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I didn't know that. Before the accident, I would have taken bigger windows over the side-impact bars if I'd been presented with the choice. And now I'm thankful to the regulators for taking away that freedom of choice. Odd.

Honest question - Would you rather have had the knowledge of the pros and cons of different designs, or the lack of freedom of choice when regulators know what's best for you?

I'd rather have some of column A and some of column B, honestly.

Re: How the most popular cars in the US track drivers

#150

Post by JohnFen »

CrendKing wrote: post #85
blueridge wrote: post #2

https://archive.is/9IU8W I've got an old (2002) car, I love the buttons and knobs. No cameras, no screens, no key fob, no voice control, no electronic "safety" features, no tracking. The 4L straight six engine is still going strong at almost 300,000 miles. What's funny is watching my friends attempt to back out of the driveway or parking lot without a camera and screen. They put it in reverse and their eyes go right…

You describe your friends' relying on technology to solve their problems in a condescending tone, yet they simply adapted to a world that is changing. When most of the cars they use already have the digital guidance, there is no point not using them, and still "throw their arm on the backside of the passenger seat, and turn around to look out the windows", which is way less efficient. Imagine you are planning a trip…

Maintaining an awareness of your surroundings is a fundamental skill required for driving. If people have become so dependent on technological aids that when they drive a car without them, they fail to maintain awareness of their surroundings, that is a failure as a driver that is fully worthy of condescension. They're exhibiting a laziness or incompetence that puts others around them at risk.
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