This particular portion of the Infrastructure Bill has been trying to make the news since at least December 1st, 2021 but it just doesn’t gain enough traction to catch the attention of the masses. Included in the 2700 page bill is a mandate that all new cars include a “backdoor” to allow a vehicle to be remotely turned off, or in the terms mostly used currently, they want a kill-switch readily available.
The idea behind this is that if someone hijacks a car, kidnaps someone, is running from police, is driving under the influence, or driving the wrong direction someone can turn the vehicle off and maybe save some lives. Sounds like a mostly well intended bill, but let’s not forget the old adage that the road to Hell is often paved with good intentions.
While people like to dramatize bills and get as many buzzwords as possible out there which will help or hurt a bill being passed, this is one that should at least be looked into for any sense of veracity. If true, this overstep by the government is just as grave as utilizing a non-elected branch of the federal government to fine and enforce vaccines on private companies and the citizens that work for them.
According to the Daily Caller, the “safety” device must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.”
The article, which was written by Bob Barr, a former 7th District Congressman of Georgia and former CIA official currently continues to a serve as an attorney and head of the Liberty Guard. He wrote the article on November 29th, 2021 in an effort to get some notice for what he called a “privacy disaster in the making”.
As Barr pointed out, the concern with the bill is how vaguely worded the mandate is and how easily it can be used against the American public.
First, use of the word “passively” suggests the system will always be on and constantly monitoring the vehicle. Secondly, the system must connect to the vehicle’s operational controls, so as to disable the vehicle either before driving or during, when impairment is detected. Thirdly, it will be an “open” system, or at least one with a backdoor, meaning authorized (or unauthorized) third-parties can remotely access the system’s data at any time.
This is a privacy disaster in the making, and the fact that the provision made it through the Congress reveals — yet again — how little its members care about the privacy of their constituents.
Steven Symes, a motor vehicle enthusiast and writer for Motorious brought up some of his own points about the bill in his own article published this past January 5th, 2022.
“Big Brother will constantly be monitoring how you drive. If you do something the system has been programmed to recognize as driver impairment, your car could just shut off, which could be incredibly dangerous.
There is the possibility the kill switch program might measure your driving as impaired, then when you try to start the car up again the engine won’t fire up. That would potentially leave you stranded.
But wait, there’s more. This kill switch “safety” system would be open, or in other words there would be a backdoor. That would allow police or other government authorities to access it whenever. Would they need a warrant to do that? Likely not. Even better, hackers could access the backdoor and shut down your vehicle.”
As Symes pointed out, there’s five years before this is mandatory, let’s hope this story gets enough attention that someone is able to do something about it.
Below is a fantastic video which goes over who has access to the system, who is able to turn off your vehicle, and the safety issues involved in such a measure.
This story syndicated with permission from Liberty Leader
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