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A comment on Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor. Parent comment

Re:Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor by isoskeles on Monday March 18, 2019 @12:31PM (#19422561)
Not sure we have a propensity for punishment here, at least not in a way that stands out from anywhere else. The way I see it is we have a propensity for profit, and some people figured out that punishment is easier / more profitable than rehabilitating people (not counting any negative externalities on the entire society having to deal with having a sort of underclass of criminals).

And I would almost guarantee that someone made money off of establishing a contract to sell such tracking devices to the state, to then sell/force them on bad drivers.

Profit > Punishment

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Re:Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor by danans on Monday March 18, 2019 @01:04PM (#19422854)
> sell such tracking devices to the state

Private insurance companies buy these, not the state

> to then sell/force them on bad drivers.

They don't need to be forced. Those drivers could be offered the option of installing them with a smaller increase in premium, and not installing them with a much higher increase in premium. Eventually, if their driving habits don't change for the better, they will be priced out of auto insurance, which is what happens today if you continually are at fault in car accidents.

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Re:Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor by JohnFen on Monday March 18, 2019 @03:40PM (#19424424)
> Those drivers could be offered the option of installing them with a smaller increase in premium, and not installing them with a much higher increase in premium.

At a certain point, that's the same as being forced.

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Re:Trading privacy for survival is another tax on the poor by danans on Monday March 18, 2019 @04:59PM (#19425229)
> At a certain point, that's the same as being forced.

At a certain point, the risk you impose on the insurance pool by not driving safely is greater than your ability to pay for that risk, so you have forced (priced) yourself out of insurance coverage.

You can always go with another insurance company who will offer you terms that don't involve the tracking device, but they aren't going to extend that coverage to you for a lower price.

But not everyone can be a safe driver, which is one reason we need alternative transportation options for them.

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