WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 So to kick off this deep dive, I want to start 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.580 with something that you have definitely seen 00:00:04.580 --> 00:00:07.400 a thousand times, but you probably never actually 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:09.599 looked at it. Oh, I think I know where this is 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:11.980 going. Yeah, picture this. You're stuck in traffic. 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:13.919 You're staring at the back of a dirty white cargo 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.879 van, right? And right there on the left door 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:19.679 is that ubiquitous decal, the one that says, 00:00:19.739 --> 00:00:22.679 how's my driving? Followed by a 1 -800 number 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:26.219 and a vehicle ID. Right. It is literally the 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:28.579 wallpaper of the American highway. It really 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:30.379 is. It's one of those things that's so common, 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:32.240 it just becomes invisible. It's just background 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.700 noise in your daily commute. Exactly. But today, 00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:38.619 we aren't treating it as noise. We are treating 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:41.259 it as a really fascinating piece of analog technology. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.780 Because when you strip it down, that sticker 00:00:43.780 --> 00:00:46.539 isn't just about, you know, a bad lane change. 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:48.679 No, not at all. It's about surveillance. It's 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.840 about economics. And strangely enough, it's about 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.439 a landmark First Amendment legal battle involving 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:59.170 the phrase, eat expletive. Which is just a wild 00:00:59.170 --> 00:01:01.750 rabbit hole to go down. I mean, we have documentation 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:04.450 here ranging from a fleet safety studies and 00:01:04.450 --> 00:01:08.209 impact reports all the way to legal rulings on 00:01:08.209 --> 00:01:10.790 free speech that actually cite George Orwell. 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:13.370 Yeah. The mission for this deep dive is basically 00:01:13.370 --> 00:01:15.890 to figure out if these things are actually a 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:19.010 scam or if they're a lifesaver. Like who was 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:20.609 actually on the other end of that phone line? 00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:23.430 If anyone. Right. If anyone. And we're going 00:01:23.430 --> 00:01:26.780 to look at how a 50 cent vinyl sticker. became 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:29.480 the grandfather of what we now call the reputation 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.500 economy, you know, like a direct ancestor to 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:35.439 your Uber rating or your eBay seller score. It 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.319 sounds like a bold claim, but the lineage is 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:39.159 totally there. We're essentially looking at the 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.560 transition from how's my driving to how's my 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.159 everything. It's this analog social feedback 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:46.719 loop. Let's start with the mechanics, though, 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:49.920 because I've always been pretty skeptical. When 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:51.780 I see that number, I just assume it goes to a 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:53.379 voicemail box in a basement that nobody ever 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:55.719 checks. Yeah. Or maybe it goes directly to the 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:57.239 driver's cell phone so they can just laugh at 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.019 me while I'm walking. I mean, that would be a 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:02.019 bold strategy for a fleet manager. But no, in 00:02:02.019 --> 00:02:05.180 reality, it's a highly structured system. Now, 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:07.680 for small mom and pop plumbers, sure, it might 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.719 just ring the front desk at the shop. Right. 00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:12.360 But for the major fleets, the trucks you see 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:14.520 on the interstate, that number connects to a 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.639 third party monitoring service. These are dedicated 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:20.439 call centers designed specifically to field complaints 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.180 about driving behavior. So there's literally 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:25.319 a room full of people wearing headsets whose 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:28.979 entire job is to listen to angry motorists vent 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:32.240 about being cut off. Essentially, yes. But they 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.180 aren't just listening to venting. They're data 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:37.180 collecting. When you call, the receptionist has 00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:39.759 a rigorous script. They need the vehicle description, 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:42.280 like it was a white van, the location of the 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:44.379 incident, and the time. Okay, that makes sense. 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:46.639 But, and this is a crucial data point, they also 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:49.060 ask for the environmental context. They ask about 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:50.800 the weather conditions of the day. Wait, why 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.300 does the weather matter? If the guy ran a red 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.340 light, he ran a red light. Rain or shine. True, 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:58.900 but context determines severity. Like, if you 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:02.879 report a driver for doing 45 in a 65 zone, that 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.000 sounds like an obstruction. It sounds dangerous. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.219 Yeah, I'd ignore it. But if the caller also notes 00:03:08.219 --> 00:03:10.060 that it was a blizzard with zero visibility, 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.780 the report flips from hazardous driving to defensive 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:16.650 driving. Oh, I see. Yeah, the call center's job 00:03:16.650 --> 00:03:19.370 is to filter out the noise and build a credible 00:03:19.370 --> 00:03:21.650 narrative before they even contact the fleet 00:03:21.650 --> 00:03:24.030 manager. Okay, let's talk about the volume of 00:03:24.030 --> 00:03:26.310 these calls because one stat in the sources really 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:29.370 jumped out at me. About 10 % of vehicles bearing 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:32.750 this decal end up becoming the target of complaints. 00:03:33.129 --> 00:03:35.250 Right, about 1 in 10. That seems really high. 00:03:35.610 --> 00:03:37.490 Yeah. But it also brings up a labor issue for 00:03:37.490 --> 00:03:40.509 me. By putting that sticker on the truck, isn't 00:03:40.509 --> 00:03:42.189 the company just outsourcing your management? 00:03:42.669 --> 00:03:45.150 I mean, I'm the one out on the road dodging the 00:03:45.150 --> 00:03:47.289 truck. Now I have to be the unpaid supervisor, 00:03:47.530 --> 00:03:50.169 too. That is a cynical but completely accurate 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:52.449 way to look at it. You are providing free labor. 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:55.550 You're the eyes on the street. But... The industry 00:03:55.550 --> 00:03:58.409 term for this isn't free labor. It's a social 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:01.150 feedback loop. The company can't sit in the passenger 00:04:01.150 --> 00:04:04.969 seat of 500 trucks simultaneously. So they deputize 00:04:04.969 --> 00:04:07.409 the public to bridge the information gap between 00:04:07.409 --> 00:04:09.569 the driver out on the highway and the manager 00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:12.250 sitting back in the office. It's primarily a 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:14.349 preventative measure. But does that deputize 00:04:14.349 --> 00:04:18.329 public actually do a good job? Because if I'm 00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:20.620 calling. It's usually because I'm absolutely 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:23.779 furious. I am not an objective observer. I'm 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:26.199 a victim with a cell phone. And that is the flaw 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:29.079 in the system. Which brings us to the data and 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:31.660 whether this actually works. We have to talk 00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:33.540 about the skepticism here because people wonder 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:35.800 if this is just safety theater. Right. The million 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.040 dollar question. Yeah. Is this just decoration 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:40.639 companies use to lower their insurance premiums 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.019 without actually changing anything? It is definitely 00:04:43.019 --> 00:04:45.339 not just theater. The evidence is surprisingly 00:04:45.339 --> 00:04:48.120 robust. There's a study we looked at by Jeffrey 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.180 Scott Hickman for the Transportation Research 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:53.410 Board. They did a deep analysis of fleets before 00:04:53.410 --> 00:04:56.029 and after implementing the sticker program. And 00:04:56.029 --> 00:04:58.269 what were the findings? Because I was shocked. 00:04:58.430 --> 00:05:00.370 The numbers are staggering. Fleets that used 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:03.149 the decal saw a 22 % reduction in accidents. 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:06.980 22%. That is massive. It's huge. Usually you 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:10.100 scratch and claw for a 1 % or 2 % gain in safety 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:12.660 stats. Exactly. And when you look at the economics, 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.300 the financials, it's even more dramatic. They 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:19.139 saw a 52 % reduction in accident -related costs. 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:22.399 Okay, let's parse that. 52 % reduction in costs 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:25.199 implies that the accidents that did happen were 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:28.430 much less severe. Precisely. And because of these 00:05:28.430 --> 00:05:31.009 stats, insurance companies often offer steep 00:05:31.009 --> 00:05:33.850 discounts to fleets that participate. It's not 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:36.389 just about safety. It's pure economics. And this 00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:38.350 isn't just a U .S. phenomenon either. No, not 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:40.930 at all. Other countries are all over this. Germany 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:43.089 is experimenting with similar programs. They 00:05:43.089 --> 00:05:46.350 call it Fahrerbeiräutung, which translates basically 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.709 to driver's rating. Right. It's a global concept. 00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:51.680 Why does it work so well? Is it because the bad 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.379 drivers got fired? Or is it because the drivers 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:56.620 themselves actually changed their behavior? It's 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:59.540 primarily the latter. It's all about visibility. 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:02.939 Drivers who know they are driving a vehicle with 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:06.139 a decal are motivated to drive more safely simply 00:06:06.139 --> 00:06:08.899 to avoid drawing complaints. It strips away the 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:12.199 anonymity. Yes. Most of us drive with a sense 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:14.600 of anonymity. If I cut someone off in my sedan, 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:17.240 I speed away and disappear. I'm just some guy 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:19.459 in a blue car. Right, you're gone. But if I'm 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.040 driving a truck with a unique ID number and a 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:25.199 phone number plastered on the back, I am identifiable. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.779 I am accountable. The sticker acts as a psychological 00:06:28.779 --> 00:06:31.519 purpose, a governor on the driver's impulse to 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.079 be aggressive. So the sticker isn't really for 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.660 me, the other driver. It's a totem for the truck 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:39.439 driver. Exactly. But let's look at the human 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.389 element here, the callers themselves. What are 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:45.370 the greatest hits of bad driving that get reported? 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:48.449 Oh, it's exactly what you'd expect. Tailgating 00:06:48.449 --> 00:06:53.370 is huge. Improper lane changes. Speeding. Running 00:06:53.370 --> 00:06:56.129 red lights. But earlier you mentioned the flaw 00:06:56.129 --> 00:06:58.550 in the system. The source documentation had this 00:06:58.550 --> 00:07:00.610 humorous insight about the bored motorist phenomenon. 00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:03.449 Right. Many calls come from bored motorists with 00:07:03.449 --> 00:07:05.689 cell phones who are just stuck in gridlock. They're 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:07.550 bored out of their minds, so they decide to make 00:07:07.550 --> 00:07:09.810 petty complaints just to have something to do. 00:07:09.930 --> 00:07:12.300 Just calling to say, He's existing in my way. 00:07:12.459 --> 00:07:14.600 Pretty much. The call centers have to get very 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.240 good at identifying those spike calls versus 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.500 actual legitimate safety hazards. Now, on the 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:22.800 flip side, and this surprised me, you found that 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.680 a small percentage of calls are actually to compliment 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:29.759 the drivers. Yes. It's rare, obviously. But a 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.300 small percentage of calls are positive feedback. 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:35.399 People call to say, hey, that merge was smooth 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.720 or thanks for letting me in. Wow. But mostly 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.730 it's negative. And the consequences for the driver 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:44.910 can be severe. Truck companies use these reports 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:47.769 to spot problem drivers. It can lead to reprimands, 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:50.569 mandatory retraining, or in worst -case scenarios, 00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:53.910 termination. So there's real teeth to it. Absolutely. 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:56.350 And we're seeing this concept expand into new 00:07:56.350 --> 00:07:58.870 demographics, too. It's moved way beyond just 00:07:58.870 --> 00:08:01.189 commercial trucks. There are programs for vehicles 00:08:01.189 --> 00:08:04.310 driven by teenagers now. Yes, aiming to improve 00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:06.449 safety for new drivers by letting the parents 00:08:06.449 --> 00:08:08.629 know how they're doing. Which changes the dynamic 00:08:08.629 --> 00:08:11.339 completely. With a trucker, it's workplace monitoring. 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:14.300 I get that. But with a teenager, that feels really 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:16.360 intimate. It brings the surveillance right into 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:18.620 the family unit. And I've seen similar DUI prevention 00:08:18.620 --> 00:08:21.439 programs too. Courts mandating these stickers 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:23.879 for people convicted of drunk driving. Right. 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:25.980 It's a way of utilizing the public to enforce 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.879 compliance. And this brings us to a fascinating 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.519 theoretical leap. Laird Strahilevitz in a paper 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:35.919 for the NYU Law Review discussed these how's 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.360 my driving regimes in relation to the digital 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.100 world. This was the most interesting part of 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:42.059 the research to me. It's brilliant. He connects 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:45.039 this to reputation systems like eBay and Wikipedia. 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:47.750 Walk us through that. was a dirty van the same 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:50.190 as Wikipedia. It comes down to crowdsourcing 00:08:50.190 --> 00:08:54.129 quality control. Think about eBay. You want to 00:08:54.129 --> 00:08:57.090 buy a vintage watch from a seller in Ohio. You 00:08:57.090 --> 00:08:59.149 don't know him. You have no reason to trust him. 00:08:59.230 --> 00:09:03.149 Right. But you see, he has a 99 % positive rating 00:09:03.149 --> 00:09:06.429 from 500 other strangers. You trust the system 00:09:06.429 --> 00:09:08.710 of feedback. The community enforces the norms, 00:09:08.870 --> 00:09:10.669 so I don't have to verify everything myself. 00:09:11.430 --> 00:09:13.970 Exactly. Straholovitz connects the dots here. 00:09:14.129 --> 00:09:17.269 The sticker on a van is an analog version of 00:09:17.269 --> 00:09:19.610 a seller rating or a Wikipedia edit history. 00:09:19.909 --> 00:09:22.509 It turns the highway into a community where reputation 00:09:22.509 --> 00:09:25.169 matters. The trucking company is the platform, 00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:28.549 the driver is the seller, and you are the user 00:09:28.549 --> 00:09:31.529 leaving a review. That is a fascinating way to 00:09:31.529 --> 00:09:34.559 frame it. The white van was basically the original 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.799 Yelp page. It really was. But there is a difference, 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:40.740 right? On Yelp or eBay, the participation is 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:43.299 voluntary. I choose to be a seller. I choose 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:45.720 to write a review. On the road, these drivers 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:47.799 don't really have a choice. The sticker is slapped 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:49.679 on by the boss. And that lack of choice, that 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:51.720 feeling of being branded and monitored against 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:54.139 your will is where the pushback comes in. Which 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:56.100 brings us to the fun side of this deep dive. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:58.539 The parodies. Yes. We have all seen them. The 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:00.539 bumper stickers with fictitious numbers that 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:02.659 look official from a distance. But up close, 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:05.379 they spell out profanities. Right. And this isn't 00:10:05.379 --> 00:10:07.960 just a juvenile joke. This actually sparked a 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:11.029 major First Amendment case. We need to talk about 00:10:11.029 --> 00:10:14.090 the 1987 case involving a truck driver from Cottondale, 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:17.129 Alabama. This is Baker v. Glover, ruled on in 00:10:17.129 --> 00:10:20.149 1991, and it's an incredible story. Set the scene 00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:22.370 for us. So we have this truck driver, Baker. 00:10:22.669 --> 00:10:25.289 He puts a bumper sticker on his truck that mimics 00:10:25.289 --> 00:10:28.230 the official ones, but his read, How's my driving? 00:10:28.450 --> 00:10:31.370 Call 1 -800 -EAT -SHIT. It's a little fairy. 00:10:31.909 --> 00:10:34.710 Now, he gets pulled over. And he's prosecuted 00:10:34.710 --> 00:10:36.750 under state obscenity laws. Which makes sense 00:10:36.750 --> 00:10:39.970 for 1987 Alabama. You can't just display profanity 00:10:39.970 --> 00:10:42.490 on a public highway where kids can see it. That 00:10:42.490 --> 00:10:44.370 was the prosecution's argument, right? Exactly. 00:10:44.470 --> 00:10:47.429 It violates community standards. But Baker didn't 00:10:47.429 --> 00:10:50.049 just pay the fine. He fought it. He took it to 00:10:50.049 --> 00:10:52.590 federal court. He did. The case reached Judge 00:10:52.590 --> 00:10:55.250 Myron H. Thompson. And Judge Thompson ruled in 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:57.570 favor of the driver. How does telling the public 00:10:57.570 --> 00:11:01.509 to eat expletive qualify as protected First Amendment 00:11:01.509 --> 00:11:04.159 speech? It's all about the context. The judge 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:06.519 analyzed the legal outcome and reasoned that 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:08.620 the sticker wasn't just random obscenity. It 00:11:08.620 --> 00:11:10.980 had serious political value. Political value. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.059 Yes. The judge highlighted what he called the 00:11:14.059 --> 00:11:16.649 big brother mentality. He said the sticker was 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:19.250 a protest against the surveillance culture promoted 00:11:19.250 --> 00:11:21.590 by the real bumper stickers, the ones urging 00:11:21.590 --> 00:11:24.169 the public to report on drivers. That gives you 00:11:24.169 --> 00:11:25.950 a totally new perspective on these signs. It 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:28.409 does. The judge recognized that the state and 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:30.429 insurance companies were creating an environment 00:11:30.429 --> 00:11:33.710 where citizens spy on each other. Baker's sticker, 00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:37.389 by parodying that specific format, was a valid 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:39.909 political criticism of that exact surveillance 00:11:39.909 --> 00:11:43.350 culture. So by telling people to eat expletive. 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:46.419 He was engaging in a high -level critique of 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:49.559 community monitoring. Legally, yes. Their ruling 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:51.460 essentially said that while the language was 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:53.720 crude, the value of the speech was protected 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:55.840 because it pushed back against being monitored. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.299 It creates this incredible irony. The How's My 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:00.720 Driving sticker is a massive safety success. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.799 It cuts accident costs by half. But it also sparked 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:07.840 a significant legal defense of free speech and 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.600 a protest against surveillance. This system generated 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:13.210 its own resistance. We accept these signs as 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:15.429 safety tools, but it highlights a really uncomfortable 00:12:15.429 --> 00:12:17.870 tension. Yeah, we want the safety that comes 00:12:17.870 --> 00:12:21.049 from monitoring, but we resent being monitored 00:12:21.049 --> 00:12:23.669 ourselves, which kind of brings us full circle 00:12:23.669 --> 00:12:25.450 to summarize the journey we've been on today. 00:12:25.529 --> 00:12:28.250 From a simple fleet safety tool to a digital 00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:31.570 reputation precursor to a First Amendment battleground. 00:12:31.809 --> 00:12:34.309 Exactly. But I want to leave you with a final 00:12:34.309 --> 00:12:37.629 thought to mull over building on that Big Brother 00:12:37.629 --> 00:12:40.080 ruling. Okay. We talked about the transition 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:43.320 from stickers on vans to digital ratings for 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.820 everything. But what happens when the caller 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:48.620 isn't a bored motorist anymore? What do you mean? 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:52.159 Think about modern cars. They are covered in 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.519 cameras. We are moving toward a world where the 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:56.899 community monitoring isn't done by humans calling 00:12:56.899 --> 00:13:00.450 a 1 -800 number. but by automated AI dash cams 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.129 in the cars around you. Oh, wow. Right. What 00:13:03.129 --> 00:13:05.429 if the car behind you automatically reports your 00:13:05.429 --> 00:13:07.710 license plate to your insurance company because 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:10.590 its algorithm decided you braked too hard? That 00:13:10.590 --> 00:13:13.169 completely removes the human element. Exactly. 00:13:13.409 --> 00:13:16.169 At what point does community monitoring cross 00:13:16.169 --> 00:13:19.210 the line from helpful, stranger -mediated feedback 00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:22.470 to an inescapable automated surveillance grid 00:13:22.470 --> 00:13:24.950 when the sticker isn't a piece of vinyl anymore, 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:27.610 but a permanent digital tag that we all carry? 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:29.860 That is a chilling thought. It's the ultimate 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:31.879 realization of what Judge Thompson was worried 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:34.580 about. It really is. Well, thanks for riding 00:13:34.580 --> 00:13:37.620 along on this deep dive. Drive safe. Watch out 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:40.000 for the white vans. And maybe think twice before 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.059 you pick up the phone to report someone. You 00:13:42.059 --> 00:13:44.600 never know who's watching you back. See you next 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:44.840 time.