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What are the implications for you and your dog being scanned/captured by self-driving cars during these tests? Is biometric data usually discarded from these da

What are the implications for you and your dog being scanned/captured by self-driving cars during these tests? Is biometric data usually discarded from these datasets before further processing and storage? Do you have any right to control your data or restrict its usage?

mikeyouse 6y ago
That's a fair question that I don't have an answer for. The Google Maps cars all blur faces (I'm sure in post processing) for their public data sets but I assume they haven't taken the time to do that with the self-driving ones. I guess GM and Google have tons of unflattering videos of my pandemic-self wearing the same clothes on multiple days in a row while I mutter to dog and my Airpods.
- bdamm 6y ago
  Right. It would be a small jump for Google to start using profile data on people to figure out who they should hire and who they should not.
xyzzy123 6y ago
This is my favourite question! I don't think the stuff you described is any problem legally; lidar scan data and pictures from public places, not published, kept for a legitimate purpose (vehicle safety and training) should be fine. But it's not a big step to turn these things into continuous scanners of the real world. Now every car can be a Street View car. You could have them check parking lot occupancy, see whether storefronts look busy, scan license plates, measure foot traffic, do recognition on pedestrians and cars, enable real-time-ish "look around" in maps, scan for wifi networks or other signals, report weather conditions, and just generally act as massive mobile data collection network. They can bring the kind of invasive surveillance we have on the Internet right to your doorstep. There is a huge amount of money to be made. The data might end up being more profitable than the rides. I don't think there are any laws preventing any of this right now. We're going to need regulation eventually.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  i think it would save a lot of headaches if legislation was drawn up today. it's not as if surveillance isn't possible already and doesn't happen. its an issue that's ripe for legislation. prevention is the best cure.
  - f7rgehdu 6y ago
    Solid disagree. Digital privacy has devolved into a luddite movement for privileged people who have nothing better to do than convince the less privileged that they'd be better off dealing with actual crime than allowing the nebulously constructed idea of their digital privacy to be violated.
    - marshmallow_12 6y ago
      there is some merit to your argument, by giving up some privacy we have created huge amounts of wealth for ourselves. But we can still fear a dystopian reality where ai and cameras will be used to create files on everyone.
    - etc-hosts 6y ago
      There's nothing wrong with protecting the privacy rights of individuals when the largest companies in the world are running robot cameras down all of our streets.
- dillondoyle 6y ago
  In person retail attribution and re-marketing! the next billion dollar ad tech startup. lol. Though maybe if Google does it themselves they could actually make it work.
- nradov 6y ago
  I expect there will be political and law enforcement pressure to use those autonomous vehicles to scan for "Amber Alert" license plates.
  - 6y ago

mikeyouse 6y ago

That's a fair question that I don't have an answer for. The Google Maps cars all blur faces (I'm sure in post processing) for their public data sets but I assume they haven't taken the time to do that with the self-driving ones. I guess GM and Google have tons of unflattering videos of my pandemic-self wearing the same clothes on multiple days in a row while I mutter to dog and my Airpods.

bdamm 6y ago
Right. It would be a small jump for Google to start using profile data on people to figure out who they should hire and who they should not.

xyzzy123 6y ago

This is my favourite question! I don't think the stuff you described is any problem legally; lidar scan data and pictures from public places, not published, kept for a legitimate purpose (vehicle safety and training) should be fine. But it's not a big step to turn these things into continuous scanners of the real world. Now every car can be a Street View car. You could have them check parking lot occupancy, see whether storefronts look busy, scan license plates, measure foot traffic, do recognition on pedestrians and cars, enable real-time-ish "look around" in maps, scan for wifi networks or other signals, report weather conditions, and just generally act as massive mobile data collection network. They can bring the kind of invasive surveillance we have on the Internet right to your doorstep. There is a huge amount of money to be made. The data might end up being more profitable than the rides. I don't think there are any laws preventing any of this right now. We're going to need regulation eventually.

marshmallow_12 6y ago
i think it would save a lot of headaches if legislation was drawn up today. it's not as if surveillance isn't possible already and doesn't happen. its an issue that's ripe for legislation. prevention is the best cure.
- f7rgehdu 6y ago
  Solid disagree. Digital privacy has devolved into a luddite movement for privileged people who have nothing better to do than convince the less privileged that they'd be better off dealing with actual crime than allowing the nebulously constructed idea of their digital privacy to be violated.
  - marshmallow_12 6y ago
    there is some merit to your argument, by giving up some privacy we have created huge amounts of wealth for ourselves. But we can still fear a dystopian reality where ai and cameras will be used to create files on everyone.
  - etc-hosts 6y ago
    There's nothing wrong with protecting the privacy rights of individuals when the largest companies in the world are running robot cameras down all of our streets.
dillondoyle 6y ago
In person retail attribution and re-marketing! the next billion dollar ad tech startup. lol. Though maybe if Google does it themselves they could actually make it work.
nradov 6y ago
I expect there will be political and law enforcement pressure to use those autonomous vehicles to scan for "Amber Alert" license plates.
- 6y ago