AllState Insurance plans to spy on you behind the wheel (1 Viewer)

[Doctor Detroit]

If, while driving, you were also chowing down food, yakking on your phone or getting distracted by the Labrador retriever, would your insurance company know?

A patent issued in August to Allstate mentions using sensors and cameras to record “potential sources of driver distraction within the vehicle (e.g. pets, phone usage, unsecured objects in vehicle).” It also mentions gathering information on the number and types of passengers — whether adults, children or teenagers.

And the insurer, based in suburban Chicago, isn’t just interested in the motoring habits of its own policyholders.

Underscoring companies’ interest in collecting and analyzing information on you, also known as big data, the patent also envisions gathering information on nearby cars so it can compare its policyholder’s habits to other motorists in the area. The patent, called “traffic-based driving analysis,” is for a server that will receive driving behavior data from sensors, cameras and other devices.

“So my car spies on me and on other drivers near me?” Bob Hunter, insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America and a former Texas insurance commissioner, said after reviewing the patent. “Even if I give permission for this intrusive technology, my car spies on unsuspecting passengers and even on unsuspecting pedestrians or cars passing by?”

Hunter wondered about the “liability for that intrusiveness” as well as the potential to pick up such sensitive data as ATM PINs. It’s “the invasion of the spy car,” he said.

Allstate said it filed the new patent a few years ago. Company spokeswoman Laura Strykowski said the “technology would provide drivers with broader information about traffic conditions and external factors that could better equip them to drive safe.”

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/09/01/spy-car-worries-raised-new-allstate-patent/71554318/

Nice job Allstate, your officially worse than the NSA and Beefaroni.

 

[proninja]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

 

[NCCommish]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

No way, no how.

 

[BowieMercs]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

Progressive does that with a dongle that plugs into your ODBII port.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

Progressive does that with a dongle that plugs into your ODBII port.

My wife spies on me. Were I to plug my dongle into an ODBII port she would soon take at least half of everything I own.

 

[BowieMercs]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

Progressive does that with a dongle that plugs into your ODBII port.

My wife spies on me. Were I to plug my dongle into an ODBII port she would soon take at least half of everything I own.

Depending on your situation, that might not be a bad deal

 

[beer 30]

They already offer a small discount if you install a device that records a ton of data about your car. Speed, acceleration, time of day, and I believe GPS location too. I would assuredly save money if I put it on my car, I just can't do it.

Progressive does that with a dongle that plugs into your ODBII port.

We use a similar service for our delivery fleet of about 4,000 trucks. Plug & play, access's ECM of truck and reports everything the truck does. We had some privacy issues to deal with but we worked through it and now monitor our fleet with real time data. I would imagine in the next 5-10 years any new vehicles will simply have this tech built in (if its not already ). Getting closer to Enemy of the State stuff, still haven't figured out the dime sized GPS bug you can plant on someone and track them from anywhere in the world but we're working on it