Black Box-like System Watches Young Drivers

The Wisconsin State Journal published an article about a new "Teen Safe Driver Program offered by Madison-based American Family Insurance" today. The idea is that the insurance company will pay to have a 2-camera system installed that will record the inside of the car and in front of the car for a few seconds before and after some important event happens, like slamming on the breaks.

The first question I asked myself was whether I would have been ok with my parents putting one of these on my car when I got my drivers license. Honestly, I would have been against it at the time. If they don't trust me, then they could have driven with me more often. This device is basically a faux-parent; watching over your shoulder until you do something wrong, then it squelches on you. Then I realized that one reason my parents were so quick to have a car ready for me was that they needed my help; I have 2 little brothers that already needed to be driven around, and I wasn't exactly a stay at home kind of person.

Instead, I think that this system would have been great. Any absence of notices would have reassured my parents of my driving ability. Also I believe that the communication that a system like this would create would lead to better trust between a new driver and their parents.

I know that my situation was different than most kids though; My parents paid for my insurance. What happens when the new driver bears the cost of insurance and car payments? All of a sudden, the parent carries no financial responsibility for their new driver. Insurance companies will have a hard time convincing these self-supported drivers to get the system, even if it's for free.

For now, the program seems very conscious of privacy. Nothing is recorded besides important events - except whose not wearing a seat belt. However, lets say that insurance companies were to encourage self-supported drivers the option to be in this program, how can they avoid compromising their respect of privacy? One viable option that I hope to see in the future is that insurance companies offer to never look at the data and the person paying the insurance receives the reports. After the new driver turns 18, it would look great on their record that they had opted in on this program to improve their driving.

The one thing that insurance companies must avoid is any stipulation that a new driver has to have one of these systems, or even any insurance discount accompanying a system like this. Such a program could mean that new drivers might not get insurance to drive their parents car - which the parent might not want to modify. Also, if there was a discount involved, how could a parent make a child pay for insurance but not allow them to have this system installed - thus forcing the child to pay more for insurance.

Now I wonder what I'll think of my parents if they don't get one of these for my little brothers. I think it's a safe bet that I'll be pushing to get one of these when they reach that age.

EULAs: Confusing and Misconstrued

The designer of a very popular and productive bot for World of Warcraft is being sued by Blizzard according to an Ars Technia news report. The man wrote a sophisticated program that simulates a persons actions at the mouse or keyboard to perform very broad tasks in the game, such as killing enemies in a certain area defined by the user. According to the article, this bot is a step better than the rest because it basically simulates almost anything a user could care to have a bot do: the boring stuff that results in a better character. This could include gathering items and defeating menial enemies. The cool part about this bot is that it takes into account your health, mana, and other stats to figure out what to do while you're off at lecture (as if you wouldn't be playing in lecture).

The lawsuit focuses on the EULA (End User License Agreement) only allowing one copy of the program to be loaded into the computers memory to be run. Theoretically this could be breached when the bot reads the health, mana, and location of the user and stores it off for use in another location in memory. However, I believe that this is not a breach of the EULA for the maker of the bot, just the user of it. Online game companies have been banning users since they figured out how to catch cheaters; This I have no problem with. The problem is that Blizzard is demanding that the maker of the bot stop selling it and "return" all profits to Blizzard.

How did Blizzard and the other game companies not put a stop to this in their EULAs. It could be very simple. A normal commercial EULA forbids the modifying, deassembling, deconstructing, ect, of the program for any purpose. This basically means that you cannot take the program and reconstruct the code that created it, which would then give you the ability to make software that looks and acts similar, but is impossible to tell from the legitimate program. I would like to respectfully add one little thing to this. "Any use of this program to create derived works is strictly prohibited unless agreed to in writing beforehand." A bot would fall under this clause because it could not necessarily be used for other purposes.

I do not know of a better wording that would disallow programs that could interact with programs without this clause (thus putting the blame back on the user), but anything that can interact with that many programs could be classified as artificial intelligence, and AI is still classified as Sci Fi.

As for this whole "profit" thing; I wonder if the man could make a payment to his wife for "Secretarial Services;" She would pay the taxes on it, and it would not be classified as profit. Perhaps my mind is running away and I've lost the definition of money laundering. It could at least work for a normal accepted value of secretarial work as long as someone can prove that she did some sort of job.

State-Langdon vs CNI: Win-Win

On Tuesday, March 25th, representatives from the State-Langdon district appointed by ASM presented their plan to secede from Capitol Neighborhoods. I was one of the students sitting in at the meeting in support for the plan. I suppose this gives me a biased view of the situation, but I want to express things I learned at the meeting about both sides of the argument. In the end, both groups will greatly benefit from this and Madison will receive input from the traditionally student population.

First, a little bit of background. Neighborhood organizations are given influence in city decisions here in Madison. This differs from the normal city neighborhood input structure that flows solely through alders. Only one neighborhood organization is recognized for any give area, defined within city blocks. The State-Langdon area his been a part of CNI for the past 3 years, which is less than the defined period of 5 years that it takes to be fully integrated into the organization. Before that period, a non-student resident tried very respectably to get active participants for the State-Langdon organization. Now, 2-3 students from ASM who live in the area are voting members of the executive board of CNI. This past year, CNI backed the city's Alcohol Density Plan, which limits liquor license density in the downtown area. Immediately, a bar that was in the process of moving was unable to open at its new location. Shortly thereafter, CNI's alcohol-related subcommittee released research that included proposals to triple alcohol tax and educate all incoming students at UW-Madison among other things. The report flew out in the press, and students' views of CNI have never been worse.

Here's the rundown: Capitol Neighborhoods reasonably would like the State-Langdon area to stay a part of CNI because of the collective power the area holds on the downtown area. It is undeniable that people in the State-Langdon area share many concerns with the rest of CNI, such as security while walking and livable areas. At one point, it was mentioned that even though we have our differences, we can be much more powerful together on the things that we agree upon. While this is true, the problem is that on the things we disagree on, one group will be left with little or no power. For example, while livable area are a big concern of both groups, homeowners can be more concerned with property value, while renters are more concerned with affordable areas to live.

The other problem with the State-Langdon area seceding from CNI is that representatives from the State-Langdon area are hard to come by, and are generally very transient - changing rentals year to year. Counterpoint - It will be increasingly difficult to get people to get involved in CNI when they already feel outcast and ignored by CNI. Eli Judge, alder of the 8th district, claimed - according to the Badger Herald's article- that "several dozen students in the State-Langdon neighborhood have expressed their anger with CNI’s recent alcohol crackdown strategies as the reason they feel detached from the association."

One thing that is thrown around is the idea of a "Student Neighborhood". This title has serious implications, which I felt were largely ignored in the meeting. For example, I'm going to be living in a different area of CNI next year; Nobody better believe that by loosing the State-Langdon area they will loose the "Student Voice". The converse is also true; the State-Langdon area cannot in any way be defined as solely students. However, such an area associated with the university and the Greek system could create a powerful system of volunteers. The university could, for example, ask that a couple of people from each included dorm be a part of the new organization. The Greek councils could also stipulate that one representative from each house be a part of the new organization as a measure to ensure the area keeps its Greek culture.

I want to eradicate the word "lose" from this whole ordeal. CNI is not "losing" input from our area, they are merely loosing the official ability to make decisions for us. They have every right and ability to ask for the State-Langdon's opinion. The State-Langdon area is also not "losing" the collective bargaining power that CNI holds; In the future, when State-Langdon and CNI have the same viewpoint, the city will pay just as much, if not more attention. Also, when they disagree, neither will "lose" their input at the city level.

One difficult obstacle to overcome is the retainment of a governing structure by such a transient population. Capitol Neighborhoods has a strong base of dedicated volunteers and a very good governing system in place. However, we must recognize that many of the student organizations on campus have impressive structure, such as ASM, College Democrats, College Republicans, etc. Add on the increased ability to recruit from Greek organizations and the dorms, something witch would not work for CNI with the viewpoints most students have of it.

In the end, I am very proud of this first step. It made clear the clashes students have had with CNI, and rallied a relatively large group within the exec board to take part in an ad-hoc committee looking at what's going to happen next. Note that the committee isn't working on the separation; It is looking at how to move forward now that the plan to secede has been presented. Nows the time to get involved. There's a neighborhood organization operating without your input; Problem is: only you can fix that.

My New Personal Blog

I've never blogged about my personal viewpoints before, so this is very new to me. In fact, I've never really written about my viewpoints except in English class, and, well, we can't really consider that an ideal environment for formulating views. This all basically boils down to me wanting to develop my viewpoints and my ability to express them. I find myself involved in the UW system, ASM, local Madison events, Technology - including the money and politics around the Tech Industry - and, on a very broad sense, the US Government. Everyone has an opinion on the US Government, so don't expect me to dip into it very often.

I also write for another personal blog, the technology based Sausage and Orange Slice Pizza. I know, strange name. The point is that I write about cool, available tech/computer things that people generally don't know about.