Article: Drivers choose discounts over privacy

CNN.com (from the Associated Press) is reporting on an American trial run of a scheme that will give good drivers a discount on their insurance -- if they prove it by submitting to electronic monitoring of their driving. Needless to say, this is not without controversey...

CNN.com - Drivers trade privacy for insurance discounts - Sep 3, 2004:

"Jacob Sevlie of Minnesota was part of a pilot project placing black boxes beneath the car dashboards of selected insurance customers.

(AP) -- For two months, Jacob Sevlie's insurance company tagged along whenever he slid behind the wheel of his Honda Accord.

An electronic monitor the size of a matchbook closely tracked Sevlie's driving time and behavior. If he had a heavy foot or was a sudden braker, the auto data recorder would betray him.

Disconnected from the car and hooked to a PC, the device relayed Sevlie's digital driving diary to his auto insurer, Progressive Corp., with the click of a mouse during a pilot program earlier this year...."