file photo Boyd Loving
Privacy concerns lead to N.J. legislation restricting access to cars’ ‘black boxes’
OCTOBER 15, 2014, 11:55 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014, 11:58 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
A new federal requirement that automakers install black-box-type devices in nearly all new cars has been welcomed by New Jersey law enforcement officials, but the warnings of privacy advocates and others have prompted state lawmakers to call for safeguards that would restrict the use of the data collected.
The devices, called event data recorders, are already installed in most late-model cars and have been used by law enforcement authorities in North Jersey since at least 1994, said Andrew Rich, a retired accident investigator for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office who is now a consultant on collision investigations.
Back then, the devices provided information only about the change of speed immediately prior to a crash, he said. They have grown much more high-tech, and now collect information on change in speed, brake application, seat belt use and air bag deployment, among other things, Rich said.
Experts stress that although the devices are commonly called “auto black boxes,” they do not continuously record and store information like aircraft black boxes do. Instead, they record only seconds worth of data, and continuously override the recording. The boxes store data only in the case |of an incident, usually a crash, that causes the air bags to deploy, said Jim Harris, an accident reconstruction expert in Miami, Fla.
“Otherwise, if you try to download data from a random car in a parking lot, you will find no information,” Harris said.
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