General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Wall Street Can Now Disable Your Car When You're Driving on the Freeway [View all]unblock
(52,205 posts)first, is this ethical and appropriate in the form described.
second, are there any particular restrictions which would make it ethical and appropriate.
to my mind, the answer to the first question is an obvious no, we shouldn't allow cars to be disabled while driving or while idling at a stoplight. this is reckless endangerment at a minimum, and inevitably would lead to a incident which could be considered negligent homicide.
the answer to the second question is more complicated, and might be yes, provided that the restrictions reasonably match what's currently allowed in terms of repossessing live and in person.
number one, the device could only allowed to lock up the vehicle when it has been in the same location for a fairly lengthy period of time, say 6 hours or so. that would at least prevent the "while driving" or "idling at a stoplight" scenarios.
number two, the device probably shouldn't beam back gps locations, but simply store them locally and beam back limited information, such as the amount of time at the same location -- really, the minimum needed to effect a safe "repo".
number three, the remote disabling shouldn't be permitted until preliminary collections efforts have failed, including, at a minimum, attempted phone contacts, written notice, and a reasonable time period for the customers to pay up or make other arrangements.