

Transportation Department Looks To Regulate Navigation Apps - sunilkumarc
http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/16/transportation-department-looks-to-regulate-navigation-apps/

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nmrm
Could someone read through the website/bill [1] and verify this story even
comes close to accurately portraying the bill?

As far as I could find, the text of the bill doesn't even mention the issue of
navigation apps. Nor does the website. At the very, very most it mentions
egnaging with state governments about driver safety issues. Which might
possibly maybe include talking with people this issue, and definitely is not
"regulation".

The NYT article mentions the agency has released general guidelines. That's a
hell of a long way from "regulation", though... and it's completely unrelated
to the bill or any legislative action afaict.

As far as I can tell this article -- at best -- massively hugely ridiculously
sensationalizes.

[1]
[http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/DOT_surface_reau...](http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/DOT_surface_reau..).

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rwhitman
I really wish there was a way to plug my iPhone into my car screen (2007
Prius) in a way that I could leverage Google Maps or Apple Maps on the primary
screen instead of the phone screen. The GPS in this car is convoluted and
broken, the Garmin I have is outdated and slow and the maps on iPhone both
Apple and Google Maps are substantially more powerful and accurate.

We really need some new technology where we can plug in the power of our
smartphones into the car with a larger screen without having to use the clunky
interfaces the auto manufacturer or aftermarket systems give you, or rely on
holding or mounting the device itself..

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sj4nz
If they mandate that handheld navigation apps freeze out certain controls when
the device is in motion (as in a car, boat, etc.) in an attempt to make things
"safer" it will destroy the usefulness of any device.

Not everyone operating a hand-held device is the driver of the vehicle and
forcing you to come to a full-stop in order to input an address is already the
main reason why I'll never pay for a vehicle's built-in navigation system ever
again.

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bane
And with today's phones you can usually just say the address to the phone.

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sj4nz
I don't have a phone smart enough to do this, and my experience with voice-
inputs for most things usually forces you to pull over and type it in by hand
anyway after several minutes of screaming.

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bane
Google now is surprisingly good at this. Just the other day I needed
directions to Costco in an area I didn't know and using only feel I was able
to get it just to the point of meeting one more interactionbefore he would
give me directions. In fact I used the voice recognition on my phone to type
this entire comment without edit.

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sentientmachine
One way to help the government establish tight controls over what kinds of
programs you can run on any of your computers is to implement a single point
of control and a single point of failure for the internet through ISP's. That
way any programs anywhere that don't follow the agency's lead have to do their
work without internet connectivity, or proportionally throttled speeds.

Then when these devices come closer and closer to who we are and what we
think, the government will have the proverbial "internet delete button" for
ideas and programs that should not be running through human minds or their
devices.

The government wants backdoor and root access into the computer in everyone's
pocket. This is for the best because the government is deeply concerned about
the health and wellness of every single citizen.

How about we turn it around, and give the people guaranteed rights and root
access into all of the smartphones of the senators, politicians, and lobbyists
doing secret deals and bribes so that the civilization can help reign in
rampant corruption that is destroying this country? I get a feeling this
alternative "society wellness program" would get quietly blocked. Since when
did the government become responsible for health and wellness? I thought
government was only responsible for a few things that the free market could
not do for themselves?

Whack-a-mole legislation on the internet isn't working, people just route
around the damaged parts, what we need is a centralized government internet
white list. A constantly updated list of things anyone can do, or any
particular person can do, rather than a list of things that are illegal.

