My preferences trend towards big vehicles (not according to the shrinks, its a safety thing). Of my three vehicles I currently own, the mood at the time I grab the keys leans me towards the car I drive. I would never look to some obscure 'app' or 'survey' type outsourced 'touchie-feelie' thing disguising itself as a 'survey'. First question I ask of any survey, is who. Then why, I usually discard any intention of going further after that second question. If it asks for demographics or a litany of information, I scoot even faster. Many of these (if not all) are to target you by advertisers pimping their products or services. Even now, this website knows way too much about me and my surfing habits. It is the cost of me being on a free forum website. No matter how protected you think you are from 'information leak', you must remember the ad guys (and gals) are way farther ahead of you than you think. Don't be afraid of 'Big Brother', be afraid of 'Big Business'.




I recently read something about car manufacturers 'copywriting' their software in vehicles. This is a prelude to gathering even more information culled from these data gathering computer systems. They do not want you (or anyone else) probing their gathering of information from you. Beside the ability (recently reported) of people hacking into vehicles electronics, these systems store data of where you went, how long you stayed, how you 'drive', and other information. The expose' about hacking into the vehicles electronics actually had a hacker overload the 'on-star' type system in the vehicle allowing the hacker to control the ABS, including not allowing the operator to apply them correctly or applying them while in traffic. They (the car makers) want to make it a crime to find these openings in their systems because when you reverse engineer, you find these open abilities showing potential dangerous access. Can you imagine trying to fight a court case when an accident resulted due to some punk kid hacking the car and causing an accident? Another example, add-on GPS systems, the 'update' site tracks exactly where you went, what business (found by looking up that address you entered), how long you stayed (imagine it was a cancer treatment location and now they may target you for cancer treatments OR your employer buys the database information and now can deduce your fighting cancer (insurance concerns).




So, be careful of the information you leak about yourself. Seemingly innocent surveys/questionnaires reveal much more than you may think. Your surfing history is already tracked and culled. Your easily identified using their programs (have you ever received pop-ups on your computer with your name on them? I have), they are getting better at hiding the fact they know who you are. For those who would reply to this that I have a complex that everyone is watching me, you are correct because there are far too many who ARE! Check your tires, everyone, you might be driving next to me with too much or too little in them when they let go!