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More on vehicle "black boxes"--applying the "Big Brother" standard under the Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

“Black Box” Standard for New Cars Could Be Big Gain for Street Safety by Charles Komanoff on StreetsBlog.org discusses a NHTSA proposed requirement of black boxes in all cars. According to the blog, they started appearing voluntarily in the 1990s to protect manufacturers from potential lawsuits, and became widespread in 2004. How often do the police really look there? (Search "black box," the first post here.) What about the privacy implications? Can the government legitimately require a "black box" as an event recorder? They do in commercial airliners, but the interests are vastly different. What's the government interest in having them in all cars manufactured after a certain date, which I'm guessing means they will be in 85+% of all cars in ten years...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).