General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHertz puts cameras in its rental cars, says it has no plans to use them
Of course they have no plans to use them. Of course not! They're just spending a lot of money alienating customers.
I confess I've never seen this, and I rent a lot of cars, but I suppose I better take some duct tape along next time.
I even felt weird about singing in the car by myself, he said. A Googling expedition revealed that my friend was not the first person driven to disturbance by the in-car surveillance system. A Yelp user was revved up about it. Disgruntled renters on travel forums like MilePoint and FlyerTalk want Hertz to put the brakes on spy cams. A loyal Hertz customer who rented a car in Chicago said it might make them never want to rent with Hertz again:
The system cant be turned off from what I could tell. Further investigation revealed that the camera can see the entire inside of the car. I know rental car companies have been tracking the speed and movements of their vehicles for years but putting a camera inside the cabin of the vehicle is taking their need for information a little TOO FAR. I find this to be completely UNACCEPTABLE. In fact, if I get another car from Hertz with a camera in it, I will move our business from Hertz completely.
http://fusion.net/story/61741/hertz-cameras-in-rental-cars/
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)They can be extremely beneficial. They are often real cameras not hooked up. Sometimes the whole thing is fake. It is hard to believe a company would come off this kind of expenditure without a plan to use them.
Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)Iggo
(47,633 posts)That ain't obvious?
Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Many other rental companies out there. In five years, they all will have them. I don't blame them.
They are and they can.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I imagine not everyone wishes to be filmed when driving.
(move goalposts here)
Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)airports - taxi's there are cameras everywhere
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)winstars
(4,220 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)that's the fake camera. The real one is the one you can't see.
Response to winstars (Reply #3)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)When my wifes school bought new desk computers for all the teachers, many of them were angry after discovering that the new all-in-one PC's came with integrated video cameras and that the district could turn them on remotely any time they wanted. Many of them initially stuck tape or sticky notes over the lenses, but their IT department sent out a reminder that affixing ANYTHING to school computers, or modifying them in any way, was strictly prohibited (they can't even change their desktop wallpaper).
So they used lipstick. A little smeared on a fingertip, and then wiped across the lens, makes the camera completely unusable. Some of the others used a little dab of Elmer's glue the same way. IT complains about it, but the teachers just shrug their shoulders and say "It must have been on my finger the last time I moved it." Teachers aren't required to maintain their computers or keep them clean, so there is nothing the school can do about it. The school can't punish the teachers simply for failing to wash their hands before adjusting their screens. And because it can be wiped off easily, they can't be accused of damaging school property
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Now I have to go home to my wife. Morgan Fairchild. Who I've seen naked.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)it's the NSA that does.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Rent from someone else.... Game over.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Like black boxes in cars, eventually cameras will be in use too. Part of the effort to identify distracted drivers or something.
Here is an idea. Put some duct tape over the lens. Audio sensors would work, so blast the narwhal song and drive the poor bastard listening insane.
Brother Buzz
(36,525 posts)Company spokesman stated, "all this cheesy fake thing does is keep honest people honest".
valerief
(53,235 posts)So don't rent the damn car.
If driving while texting/using hands-on phones was outlawed everywhere AND enforced, I'd say take out the camera and replace it with a computer that can smell alcohol (if that should exist).
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Just think how safe the roads would be if the camera was linked to the onboard computer. Once it decided that the driver was distracted, the engine could be cut off and the car could coast safely to the side of the road where no one would be hurt. Unless the car was headed down a hill, then the car could fine the driver for going too fast while the computer was in control.
The Breathalyzer system would be used to start the car, blow into the tube until the system clicks, and whamo we can check for blood alcohol levels. Oh wait, it wouldn't check for other drugs that could impair the driver.
I know, a urinalysis system built right in. You sit in the driver seat, connect the hoses, and then blow into the tube and fill the other tube with a sufficient amount of urine. The computer takes a couple minutes to compile the results and before you know it you're on your way to the quick trip to the store. Imagine how safe the roads would be then.
Instead of shutting the car off, the computer could deliver a tickle of electricity to the drivers seat. You start to drive without paying a sufficient level of attention, and the car gives you a minor electric shock to get your head back into the game.
Do I really need the tag? Really?
valerief
(53,235 posts)Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)I'm in favor of gun control. Actually I'm in favor of banning all guns. Not sure why you threw that out.
hunter
(38,372 posts)... I'm not sure this is ever going to be a problem for me.
I'm pretty sure any modern car is capable of spying on you.
That nice OnStar system can help you in an accident, but more importantly, it can prevent the car from starting if you miss a payment, or tell the police where to find the car if you've quit paying and skipped town too.
I think the automatic license plate scanner technology is scarier. Law enforcement and spy agencies don't even have to depend on your car's electronics to know where you've been.
We bought a former rental car, a 1990's model that had an after-market remote starter disabling device installed in it. That was just before the time, I guess, the auto companies started installing them in all the cars they sold to rental companies, sometimes as simple software in a car's regular electronics. When we bought our car the rental company had probably quit removing the devices from cars they sold because they didn't need to reuse them anymore.
I didn't like the idea that someone could disable the starter on my car by entering a wrong number, so I removed the device.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)http://www.gjel.com/blog/would-automotive-black-boxes-clarify-car-accident-lawsuits.html
The black box in the car is not built as robustly as the black boxes in airplanes. So there is no way to know how corrupted the data may become. In fact in the case mentioned above, both the State's witness and the Defense Witness agreed that there was no way to know if the black box was working properly prior to the crash, and the modifications to the car could have made the information unreliable.
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/clerk/briefs/2005/801-1000/05-887_JurisIni.pdf
Yet the man was convicted, and the conviction upheld because of data that both sides agree is at best, questionable.
http://www.wired.com/2011/05/automotive-black-boxes/
It's happening. If the data record does not agree with your version of events, then you are the liar, no matter how unreliable the data may be.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)And that's without even being aware of them being able to shut down the car for missing payments.
When we had our home security system installed a few years back, the installer offered to also install a two-way communication system so that the monitoring company could contact me through it if an alarm were triggered. Similar to OnStar, they could turn on the mic at any moment without us being aware of it.
He was amused by my horrified "fuck no!" reaction, and said that most people really liked that feature.
brooklynite
(95,211 posts)You're borrowing their car. They have the right to determine the terms. It may not be a good marketing strategy, but it's perfectly within their rights.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)I'll grant you that they have the right to do so. It bothers me that we're living in a society in which corporations think this sort of thing might be a good idea. Also, we're increasingly being conditioned to living in a surveillance state both by our government and by the businesses we work for and/or patronise and I detest that.
tkmorris
(11,138 posts)Of COURSE it's their car. Of COURSE they aren't violating anyone's civil rights. That isn't the point.
They are in the business of convincing people to rent their cars, as often as possible. A move like this doesn't seem as if it will help in that regard. Stories such as this one serve to inform the consumer who may then decide that they would rather rent cars from a company that doesn't install cameras in them.
MineralMan
(146,368 posts)The last time I rented a car, it monitored speed constantly. If you exceeded a certain speed, a light would flash on the dashboard telling you that. I assume the rental company also checks how the car was driven. I didn't look at the rental contract, though. The only time it flashed for me was during a passing maneuver. I use the cruise control on the highway, set at the speed limit, unless traffic is heavy, and then I wouldn't be speeding anyhow.
No traffic tickets in over 50 years of driving. That's why.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)Some years back a guy got charged several hundred dollars after the fact by his car rental company for breaking the speed limit while driving their car. He had used a debit card to rent the car and I have no doubt that this policy was spelled out in the small print of the contract, so he had no recourse. I don't remember the name of the company involved or how it eventually worked out, but that sounds totally outrageous to me.
For the record, I have exactly one ticket in the last 30 years and that was in an obvious speed trap. That's not what bugs me about this. What bugs me is that corporations increasingly think they have an ethical right to spy on their customers and employees.
MineralMan
(146,368 posts)When you rent one, you agree to the terms of the rental contract. If the company wants to include a fee for driving illegally, then that's fine, as long as it's in the contract. Most car rental companies also ban smoking in cars, and you pay a hefty cleaning fee if you violate that rule.
Their car; their rules. Don't like their rules, don't rent a car from that company. Now, it may happen that they all end up having such rules. I don't know.
demwing
(16,916 posts)to justify a "whites only" policy.
"You don't like it, eat somewhere else."
MineralMan
(146,368 posts)It's more like your weird cousin from Cleveland saying, "Dude, let me borrow your car for a week." You're going to worry about how he's going to drive it, how far he's going, and more stuff.
The car rental company isn't discriminating against people. It's setting rules for how they use the cars they own. For the smoking deal, they know that a lot of their customers don't want to get into a car that has been smoked in. So, they don't allow smoking in their cars. They're not discriminating against smokers; they're treating all customers alike. No smoking rules make sense for them, and nobody is required to smoke or is born as a smoker. You can't smoke on airliners; you can't smoke in restaurants; you can't smoke in most rental cars.
So, as a smoker, I have to resign myself to not smoking in rental cars. It's not that big a deal, really. If I need or want to smoke, I can stop, get out of the car, and light up whenever I want to.
Trying to make such rules by companies equivalent to racism is really weak. It's nothing like that at all.
demwing
(16,916 posts)I didn't write that car cams were the equivalent of discrimination, I wrote that the justification that provides for a company to do something legally permissible (at the time) but ethically repugnant is the same.
it's not the cameras that I find problematic, it's the accepting attitude: "If you don't like it, shop somewhere else" -- sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but there it is...
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)What bugs me is that corporations increasingly think they have an ethical right to spy on their customers and employees.
liberalhistorian
(20,822 posts)this Orwellian shit is truly disturbing. Gah.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)I'm surprised too.
liberalhistorian
(20,822 posts)first came on here, it would have been not just surprising, but beyond shocking to find that kind of attitude and that poster would quickly have been made to feel very unwelcome. Even a few years ago that may have been the case. But this place has been changing and, sadly, I'm not as surprised to see it here as I once would have been.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)If I had written a Science Fiction novel 30, maybe even 20 years ago, describing a world in which office workers are routinely drug tested, their bathroom visits monitored, and all their computer behaviour spied on, and in which foreign tourists are routinely fingerprinted like a common criminal at our airports, all our telephone and internet communications scrutinised, in which we overshare the most intimate details of our lives on public media even leading to becoming unemployable because of it, and how the vast majority of the population just doesn't seem to care about any of that... I think my novel would have been called a dystopian fantasy.
And yet here we are. I really wouldn't have believed it either.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,386 posts)J
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)As you say, it is truly disturbing.
Renew Deal
(81,930 posts)ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Orrex
(63,333 posts)Maybe an ex-NFL star.
Hmm...
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