Mozilla released their studies, and I’m seeing a growing number of posts on the Internet about cars and the privacy nightmare they entail. I remember how this issue wasn’t talked about earlier because “just buy an older car” was still prevalent. I’m so happy that people are taking notice. Thank you to this community and Mozilla for the work they are putting in!

  • Hot SaucermanEnglish
    17•10 months ago

    My city doesn’t even have bus fare. It’s not like they’re grabbing my biometrics when I step in. They’re not trying to identify me when I walk on.

    You just walk on, wait, then walk off.

    It may not be the most private way of transport but it’s not actively collecting data on you, which is what this is about.

    EDIT: Further, it’s just easier for a car to collect data on it’s owner. When you buy a car, you get a Title which registers the Vehicle Identification Number to the owners name. Then, when you’re driving, because you’re in public you’re required to have your Drivers License, Registration, Insurance, a License Plate and up-to-date Tabs all very specific identifiers that identify both the driver and the car. The cars sensors only have to identify the owner, to whom it is already registered, and so they know the data they’re collecting is from one person/one family.

    I’ve seen my cities bus budget. They have cameras on the bus for the protection of drivers but can barely afford them. They’re definitely not dumping money into shit like facial recognition. I don’t even need an ID to ride the bus. I can walk on with empty pockets and no one is gonna tell me I can’t ride the bus without ID. If you drive without your license, you can get it taken away.

      • Hot SaucermanEnglish
        7•10 months ago

        US, Northwest. The fares only accounted for about 2% of the total budget for transit, and the city was looking into upgrading their fare-collector devices because the ones they had were getting really old and starting to fail. After they did the math, they realized it would cost them more to get the new fare-collectors bought and installed than it would to… just get rid of the fare collectors altogether. It was simply going to cost so much money that they would have had to increase fares to pay for it, and so they just said “screw it” and dropped fares entirely.