The flip side of this story is someone like an abusive spouse social engineering a car tracking firm with a story like this and then using the data to track the car's occupant with tragic results.
You just can't win.
You just can't win.
Stop putting tracking devices that you control in other people's vehicles, if you don't want the liability of it.
This is the same sort of argument used to get rid of encryption, among many other privacy invasions.
If you want to put a tracker in your car, that's up to you. Should the federal government mandate trackers in every car so they can always find any vehicle?
"Think of the children!"
I am thinking of the children. Having some semblance of life outside of Big Brother's watchful eye is essential for the children.
This is a red herring. The federal government doesn't mandate this. You said "if you want to put a tracker in your car, that's up to you." People are choosing to put trackers in their cars.
Honestly, as someone who is fairly strict on matters of privacy, I'm fine with a tracker in my car. I don't drive it that often. And when I do, it's around town.
I'm arguing against a comment that implied tracking is good, even if it is controlled by others, because it might save a child. The best version of such a system is if it is owned by the government, not some company trying to make money off of it, so that's the version I decided to argue against.
That's not a red herring. It's steelmanning.
A private company. From whom a person decided to buy a car. Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Nissan make cars without trackers or even GPS. That's obviously not most consumers' preference.
> best version of such a system is if it is owned by the government
I strongly disagree. That said, if someone wants to install a government tracking device on their car, I suppose I'm not against it. (Didn't you start by arguing against mandated surveillance?)
It's hard to find a reliable car. Last time I dug into the subject it was a stress-nightmare
Yes. That’s the point of steelmanning. Put forward the best argument of your opposition. Then tear it down.
The firm involved in this should have its board thrown in jail (vw and their contractor). Holding investigative information related to a crime hostage to a fee is criminal enough. Board members and managing directors should cop jail time. Basically anyone from the point of command who said "no! pay up" north. jailtime.
But provisions protecting consumers from companies is weak so unlikely to happen.
> the family claim Volkswagen refused to assist authorities
An abusive spouse wouldn't usually ask the police to track someone down. I also assume the request was off the back of an official missing persons/kidnapping charge.
Also, parents of a child would have rights to the location of their children a spouse or partner wouldn't, outside a missing persons report.
This is a service available on the obvious scene boards. It’s classic social engineering, and I bet it works for these car tracking services too.
The main issue I'd be concerned about are LEOs (or other government actors with access to LEO databases) abusing that system.
Jailtime should be the only answer.
Legit I'm gonna crack a bottle of champagne the day that holding companies criminally liable for their criminal acts becomes the norm. Remember if it's punishment is only a fine not jailtime its a law for the poor.