cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1247209/all-cars-sold-in-the-eu-now-require-a-camera-aimed-at-your-face-its-still-not-clear-wher
Starting July 7, 2026, every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera aimed at your face. Glance at your phone, your kids in the back seat, or the radio for too long, and the car will flash a warning light and sound an alert.
Automakers have known this was coming for years. What they, and EU regulators, have never spelled out is what happens to that footage after the alert goes off.
While the intention behind the new system is difficult to dispute, its implementation has raised several concerns. Early real-world testing suggests the distraction warnings can be overly sensitive and potentially distracting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
Just because the baseline has shifted doesn’t mean the change never happened , it just means we collectively haven’t noticed as much as we could have, because the change sometimes happens at a timeframe larger than our collective memory.
That the “absolute worst” didn’t come to pass doesn’t negate the change that did occur.
There can and will be change, sure, but my point was that OP’s “smalls steps towards something much worse” typically never happens because of the shift.