24 ms·

Using a car at all is giving up control to cops.

pengaru 3y ago
> Using a car at all is giving up control to cops. It's not like you're in any more control vs. cops without a car at your disposal, it's just a tool. But you bet your ass the more automated cars become, the more options cops (and the state in general) will have to remotely take control of their operation. But cops can just as effectively be a problem for pedestrians, cyclists, riders of public transportation... Some of my worst police interactions have been on public transportation. They seem particularly keyed up and predisposed to assume you're poverty scum committing a crime in that context IME (BART police).
CM30 3y ago
There are a few differences though: - Cops actually have to care about the justice system in some way, so won't usually take the car if it's not connected to a crime - Because of the above, there is at least theoretically a way to get it back via the legal system - They have to physically go and get the car - The car still physically works even if there's a court order/arrest warrant/whatever. With a company where you might 'rent' the car on the other hand: - There's no justice system aspect, and they can refuse service for any (non) reason. That could be anything from "we don't like you much" (perhaps because you exposed their CEO's dodgy behaviour or acted as a whistleblower) to "having you as a customer is a PR nightmare" (person on social media claimed you said/did something inappropriate) to "computer says no" (technical glitch, system downtime, etc). - Getting it back requires either enough social media outrage (like with Google account problems) or a costly lawsuit - They could either stop the car from working via remote means like disabling the account needed to login, or blacklist your address from the system so their vehicles don't stop there - If there's a problem, you're fubar. At best you can hack or jailbreak the system to get it working, at worst you have no vehicle at all

> Using a car at all is giving up control to cops. It's not like you're in any more control vs. cops without a car at your disposal, it's just a tool. But you bet your ass the more automated cars become, the more options cops (and the state in general) will have to remotely take control of their operation. But cops can just as effectively be a problem for pedestrians, cyclists, riders of public transportation... Some of my worst police interactions have been on public transportation. They seem particularly keyed up and predisposed to assume you're poverty scum committing a crime in that context IME (BART police).

CM30 3y ago

There are a few differences though: - Cops actually have to care about the justice system in some way, so won't usually take the car if it's not connected to a crime - Because of the above, there is at least theoretically a way to get it back via the legal system - They have to physically go and get the car - The car still physically works even if there's a court order/arrest warrant/whatever. With a company where you might 'rent' the car on the other hand: - There's no justice system aspect, and they can refuse service for any (non) reason. That could be anything from "we don't like you much" (perhaps because you exposed their CEO's dodgy behaviour or acted as a whistleblower) to "having you as a customer is a PR nightmare" (person on social media claimed you said/did something inappropriate) to "computer says no" (technical glitch, system downtime, etc). - Getting it back requires either enough social media outrage (like with Google account problems) or a costly lawsuit - They could either stop the car from working via remote means like disabling the account needed to login, or blacklist your address from the system so their vehicles don't stop there - If there's a problem, you're fubar. At best you can hack or jailbreak the system to get it working, at worst you have no vehicle at all