Note that Evil Governments can much more easily flick the switch to cars than maintain roadblocks. Take a look at Syria, or Egypt. Egypt actually did shut down

Note that Evil Governments can much more easily flick the switch to cars than maintain roadblocks. Take a look at Syria, or Egypt. Egypt actually did shut down the internet[1] during unrest. The Syrian government has tried to suppress an uprising, but has not been successful in doing so. It take a lot more resources to actually hold and maintain an effective roadblock than it does to just flick a switch. Imagine how much easier it would have been for them if they could just flick the switch and shut down all of the rebel's cars. This is not some abstract hypothetical point, there are actually cases out there today with oppressive governments who would have incentive to use this technology nefariously. But beyond that, there are more mundane concerns as well. After the subprime loan crisis, dealers started including remote disablers in cars, so they could remotely repo cars if the owners defaulted. However, a disgruntled former employee has used those disablers to disable hundreds of cars that had them[2]. [1]: http://www.renesys.com/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet/ http://www.renesys.com/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet/ [2]: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/