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Phone App That Watches Your Driving Habits Leads To Privacy Concerns
Toshito writes Desjardins Insurance has launched a smartphone app that tracks driver behaviour in return for the promise of substantial savings on car insurance. Two years ago, Desjardins began offering a telematic device that plugs into a vehicle's diagnostic port, to track acceleration, hard braking and the time of day you were driving, for instance. Now, there's no plug-in device required. With Desjardins's new Ajusto app, all you need is your smartphone. But this comes with great concerns over privacy, and problems have been reported where the device was logging data when the user was riding a bus instead of driving his own car.
No kidding. It's tracking you constantly when you're in your car, and in some cases, even when you're not. You've sold your personal data (your current location) for a tiny bit of lucre. Why people might think this ISN'T a walking, talking privacy breach of the first order is beyond me.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
What if you just have your phone turned off when you drive, or don't take it with you in the first place? Maybe the insurance savings are even substantial enough that you can get a second phone and only take the phone with this app on short trips and drive on those trips very carefully. When you want to do your street racing, you bring the other phone.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Isn't the 'app' development process to the point where you don't even consider shipping until you've built at least one egregious privacy issue into your product?
The hypothetical member of the insurance industry AC had it right.
Take my health insurance for example. I can't be charged extra for a pre-existing condition. But I don't qualify for the discount for not having the pre-existing condition. It starts with "discounts of up to $35 per month" available if you participate in the health screening (blood analysis, BMI etc.), so you participate. Then "oh, and by the way to qualify for the discount you have to answer the online survey (you guessed it, lots of mental health questions). Then "oh, you don't qualify for the full discount because of your girth/height ratio. You should take action".
last I checked my waistline was pretty similar last year.
Insurance has become a nickle and diming game based on taking your personal information and either losing it, selling it or using it against you directly
Nullius in verba
what planet are you from?
this database would be bent over and f*cked from all sides, the gov't, the insurance industry and anybody else who could make a buck from accessing this data.
In particular, the gov't would need unfettered access to it, because they heard a terrorist once rode in a car. And also a child-molester.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Is it just me, or is 25% off car insurance not worthwhile for all the loss of privacy? I would only consider something like this if the savings were reasonably related to actual risk. I have frequently avoided driving on days where there were major traffic issues, or arranged to work from home (or very close to home) in bad weather, so my risk went to zero on a day that could have been expensive for the insurer.
Currently though, I get a 40% discount from a major insurer just because of where I work, and further discounts for having home insurance with the same company. These have no bearing at all on the actual risk of a claim, but add up to a much bigger discount than this new program and its invasion of privacy.
"Sorry Mr. Anderson, but our records show you going over 300 mph for nearly 4 hours. We are going to have to cancel your policy."
But this comes with great concerns over privacy, and problems have been reported where the device was logging data when the user was riding a bus instead of driving his own car.
So is there some additional device in the car the phone app pairs with? Otherwise, how does the app know when you're driving your own car or simply a passenger in someone else's. This whole thing doesn't sound like it was thought out very well.