Do you understand some of the scary things that can be accomplish with cell phones? If you have an active land line in your home, you have that active microphone in your house that you eluded to. Someone with the right technological know how can make your land line an active microphone and you would have no knowledge of it. They are devices that you and I can purchase today to actively violate anyones privacy we choose to for whatever reason and non of it would be legal. This is just the surface, do you understand now why I as most people are less concern about Onstar or the potential for government to use it to entrude on our percercive privacy?

Fortunately for us as an Americans we do have a system of rules and laws, however imperfect, that protects and gave us avenues to address the issues and fears that you are concern. Those instances where the government were brought to court is evidence of our collective abilities redress these wrongs. Our society is not perfect and individuals like yourself is needed to remind us of that so I am not suggesting that you change what you doing, just keep in mind that we are not mindless in our perception to things that impact. Take a moment to go ourside your reality to realities of other countries. The global work is shrinking…….think about it.

Suppose there was a new service that would install a small device with a microphone and speaker in each room of your house, with panic buttons, so that in an emergency you could just press a button and communicate with the authorities. This could improve your safety, right? Now suppose you found out that the authorities could at any time, without your knowledge or consent, eavesdrop on you anywhere in your house. Would you still want the system installed in your house?

This is what OnStar does in your car.

OnStar does provide a valuable service, so it should be up to you as the car owner to decide whether you want it. However, OnStar should tell you up front about the possible surveillance, or you can’t make a properly informed decision.

You are using the argument that the innocent have nothing to fear, and that the police and FBI aren’t likely to put you under surveillance. That is completely missing the point. The innocent need privacy just as much as anyone, and a system that can easily compromise that privacy WILL be abused.

Even if the police and the FBI never abused it, which is unlikely given how many other abuses of power they’ve been caught on, it’s also possible that a third party could abuse it. The system operates over the public cellular phone network, and it would only take knowledge of your OnStar unit’s phone number, and some technical expertise about the workings of OnStar, to spoof the system and eavesdrop on you.

Suppose there was a new service that would install a small device with a microphone and speaker in each room of your house, with panic buttons, so that in an emergency you could just press a button and communicate with th

This brings me to Onstar. My safety and the safety of my family has top priority in my reality. The world we live in today is far more dangerous than prior years because most everyone drives a car and everyone wants to be where they want to be yesterday. Onstar provides me the security of knowing that I have connection to emergency resources when seconds counts. The hands free feature allows me safe communication accessabillity without endangering my self or others because of inattentive driving habits. There are other valuable intergrated systems that gave me peace of mind as I navigate the complexities of every day life. At no time as I go about my day do I worry about of my government is listening to my conversation or monitoring where I am going. This is the realities of my world and I hope it similar to those that share this world with me.

This application of fear about big brother is watching you has its merits to those who subscribe to those concerns. But in a pratical sense I have not real concerns because this technology works both ways. Show me all they ways this technology is detrimental to our right to privacy and i’ll show you several ways this technology enhances our right to safety and security. You might ask at what price and I’ll say, it like buying insurance. its your individual circumstance that matters.

Thanks

Go to the “Vehicles with an EDR on board” link on this page to see a list of all cars with an EDR installed:
http://www.harristechnical.com/cdr.htm

If you want to buy your own CDR system go here:
http://www.cdr-system.com/

Good day to all

I’m a very happy user of the HP41 in Nonpareil. If there were one enhancement I would choose, it would be the ability to support the Application packs. I know this involves creating a whole mechanism for assigning base addresses based on which slot the cartridge is plugged into, but it seems a shame not to be able to use all those wonderful apps.

Anyway, thanks for Nonpareil, it’s the calculator that sits open on my Linux desktop all day at work.

Happy New Year!
Peter Simpson