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While the common meaning of the word 'transmit' generally implies wireless communication nowadays, it can also be used to mean any transfer of information - wir
by bunderbunder 15y ago
While the common meaning of the word 'transmit' generally implies wireless communication nowadays, it can also be used to mean any transfer of information - wireless, wired, even written letters sent over snail mail. The text of this bill uses the word 14 times, and in almost all of them, it's clear that the latter meaning is the intended one. It's used only once in reference to these black boxes, in a section that starts with:
Data recorded or transmitted by such a data recorder may not
be retrieved by a person other than the owner or lessee of
the motor vehicle in which the recorder is installed unless--
And proceeds to list a bunch of limitations that all sound fine to me. It's essentially saying that the police need a warrant to retrieve the data (duh), and that if you rent a car, the car's owner can't use the black box to monitor you without written consent.
I see nothing in there to imply that these devices must transmit wirelessly. Much more likely, the device will transmit data the same way an airplane's black box does - via some sort of physical port that you have to plug into.
- tptacek 15y agoThe bill does not require event data records to transmit anything. The word "transmit" in the subsection of the bill pertaining to event data recorders is a restrictive clause; the effect is that if your box happens to transmit anything, those transmissions are covered by the privacy provisions of the bill.
- bunderbunder 15y agoAnd if you read from the original bill, it becomes even more clear that this could not be used for wireless snooping. The need to attach physical hardware to get data out of it is made clear here: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e20dce3ff7d472b52847e33bddb998b9&rgn=div8&view=text&node=49:6.1.2.3.31.0.7.12&idno=49 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid... And the conditions under which it's recording data, and the data being recorded, are described in the following two links: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e20dce3ff7d472b52847e33bddb998b9&rgn=div8&view=text&node=49:6.1.2.3.31.0.7.9&idno=49 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid... http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e20dce3ff7d472b52847e33bddb998b9&rgn=div8&view=text&node=49:6.1.2.3.31.0.7.7&idno=49 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid... Long story short, it's really not very exciting.