I’m sure you’ve all heard the good news about Election 2020: the amended Massachusetts Right to Repair law passed decisively. Automakers will be required to provide consumers with access to “telematics” data stored and transmitted by their cars.
According to the Boston Globe, over $43M was spent (wasted?) on advertising for and against this initiative.
Automakers stooped to the lowest level of argument. “If question 1 passes in Massachusetts, anyone could access the most personal data stored in your vehicle,” they said, claiming the law would empower sexual predators (along with visuals of a woman alone in a parking garage).
What struck me the most about this line of reasoning is how it should (but apparently doesn’t) lead people to an even more pressing question: Is it totally acceptable that a car should store and transmit your “most personal data” in the first place?
I believe in repairing things, but I consider my privacy far more sacred than my posessions.