Bear with me on this rant. It has nothing to do specifically with senior issues, but it is an issue that affects all of us.
Since the attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001, we have operated under the narrative that giving up our privacy affords us security. We bought in to that hope when we passed the Patriot Act on October 25, 2001 and certainly did not bat an eye at the numerous pieces of legislation that have further eroded our privacy in the name of national security since that time. Not even the numerous stories about the widespread surveillance of the NSA had us question our position on privacy vs security. Forget about the fact that I don’t agree that the loss of privacy has made us any more secure or that there is truly anything we can do to ensure safety.
Today’s story is about the value of our data, our privacy. If we trust government to use our information to keep us safe, then why not allow that same information to be used by private individuals to make our lives easier or even more interesting. This story is about the benign information that your car collects about you, called telematics. It is defined as the data from your car sensors (brake usage, windshield wipers, etc) and other general mechanical data being sent from your car to the manufacturers. Nobody could possibly care about that information being shared, right? This does not include GPS, radio usage or even speed history. Furthermore, if having sensors could tell us that within the first 30 seconds of using windshield wipers our anti-lock braking systems are often triggered, so we could devise a system that increased our traction during the beginning of a storm, we would be happy to share that information, right?
Many years ago I attended a conference with a man that used that same very general telematic information, again nothing personal, about the use of the car and found that with 70-80% accuracy he could predict your favorite television shows. Yes, by the way you drive your car – how often and for how long you use your blinkers before you turn, whether you hit the brake as soon as you lift your foot from the gas, or how you use your headlights could be a predictor on what televisions shows you watch. And while this also may be benign information, what happens when you link different information together? I’ve seen demonstrations that by just walking near a public camera, computers can verify your name, where you live and get incredibly close in predicting your social security number. There are hundreds of such systems that exist worldwide, some that we know of and many that we do not.
The problem with giving up our privacy for security is not just that it does not make us safer, but that we have no idea what is the value or use of the information we have traded.
