IBM Patents Real-Time Auto Insurance Surcharges
from the fair's-fair dept
theodp writes "Better think twice before volunteering to tutor underprivileged kids or delivering Christmas gifts to homeless children. Thanks to IBM, you could be rewarded with a hefty car insurance premium increase for your efforts. A new patent was issued to Big Blue last Tuesday for its 'invention' of the Location-Based Vehicle Risk Assessment System, which describes how surcharges will be added to your auto insurance premium when a GPS device reports that you drove into an area in IBM's bad neighborhood database (stay too long and your car is disabled). It's all about assigning insurance costs more appropriately, explains Big Blue, which used the same argument to justify punishing employees for having fat kids."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: insurance, patents, surcharges
Companies: ibm
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Please mistuh, will you please take my freedom, fi
This is another large significant step to a felon-state; that is, instead of citizens at the top of the USA government (God Bless America!) we are now just profit targets, by big businesses with nice sounding euphemisms and strings to pull directly inside government.
Yah. I am a loser, I want to save money on car insurance, so you can start playing games with me a year later.
How I know?
I only report my personal experience with:
Liability insurance
Car Rental insurance
Homeowners insurance (doubled after 9-11- I am in the very last place terrorism would happen- outback oregon- but that was the excuse they used.
Yes, Usama predicts correct: We will destroy ourselves, and 9-11 just sped things up a bit.
Thank you Techdirt.
Mike
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Re:
Oh, I'm sure it'll be optional. They'll just charge you ten times the normal premium if you "opt out". But hey, it'll be your choice.
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Next Step......
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I think Story is part Correct
** I would only be for this technology if we used it for state, city and federal owned vehicles. I like that idea- to make sure our elected, and paid for workers don't use our Tax dollars for private use. I can find loads of fun things to do with state/fed workers and gps- and insurance.
** Maybe cab companies can save money and they already use GPS...
** For home, private, aweee im all against that one. Its a technology that is based on mistrust and control- Only good use is for our elected- not the average joe..
** Come on tech people stop doing these tracking and data base -strange 1984 - im in control stuff.. - go back to inventing fun games like pong and pacman. If you hate games make a better microwave.
Peace Out
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My Sentiments
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IBM Trix
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If you want to make it truly fair, people with higher risks would pay more for insurance. That doesn't happen so much becasue the states don't let it happen. You talk of personal responsibility and this is one thing that directly targets personal responsibility. If your car is in a high risk area often, why wouldn't you expect to pay more?
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insurance tracking
In a society ruled by the people, for the people, this could not happen. We, however, are ruled by politicians. They come around just before election time to tell you that they have been pulling for you the last 2,4 or 6 years and that if re-elected they have plans how they are going to fix the problems of the last 2,4 or 6 years.
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Think I'll remove the GPS unit and leave it in the garage.
Can I patent that idea ?
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Is it fair for Iowa residents to pay higher insurance rates because Florida residents get wacked by a hurricane?
Where does personal responsibility come into play?
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Yeah, it's sooo personally irresponsible to be stricken by a natural disaster, called an "act of G-d" by the insurance companies. I mean, people who are stricken by an "act of G-d" MUST have done SOMETHING to anger G-d (like all the immorality in New Orleans). Thus, it's their own fault. Why should the rest of us be punished with higher premiums?
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"While such historical data is helpful in setting reasonable premiums, such data doesn't always accurately predict the activities of individual policy holders, and thus the risks posed by each of those policy holders. Insurance companies typically have little control over or feedback from how and where a policy holder operates a vehicle. (Italics mine..) While a policy holder may live in a relatively safe area, the policy holder may travel into riskier areas without the knowledge of the insurance company. A policy holder may also travel frequently in high accident areas, and thus pose a greater risk of encountering an accident, yet an insurance company often has no way of identifying or accounting for the additional risk posed by that policy holder."
Wow... I'm feel like I'm getting smothered by it all.. seems that corp mungheads in every sector are really putting in the overtime to better serve me.. Ha!!
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Did anyone actually READ the patent?
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Re: Did anyone actually READ the patent?
"A method of conducting an economic transaction associated with rental of a vehicle over a period of time,.."
Yet in another..
"The illustrated embodiments generally operate by tracking the location of a vehicle for the purpose of conducting an economic transaction associated with the usage of the vehicle over a period of time. The economic transaction may be based upon any number of different activities associated with usage of a vehicle, including rental of a vehicle, insurance of a vehicle, etc. A vehicle may include practically any mobile form of transport including, for example, automobiles, trucks, airplanes, boats, bicycles, trailers, motorcycles, motor homes, etc. Moreover, systems consistent with the invention may also have additional utility in parental monitoring of minor operators."
..and though I'm not in fear of suddenly being tracked.. do you honestly believe that this will remain exclusive to rentals if its actually deployed?
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Re: Re: Did anyone actually READ the patent?
cough cough .... invention ? - where ?
Honestly, I do not see an invention
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Re: Re: Re: Did anyone actually READ the patent?
So? Since when does that matter?
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Just like California - tax 'em on distance driven
Then the usual "...we have no evidence that any data has been used for illegal purposes..." a$$ covering rhetoric.
And just wait until they combine databases: where you drove, with what you purchased, with your race, gender, income etc. Then they can tax/fee us extra if we drove our fat a$$es to McDonalds to get a quadruple dead cow burger rather than taking the bus to do the same and then pass all that information on to our health insurer.
Per Inc's comment. Maybe I'll just bolt that pesky GPS transmitter to the side of my washing machine.
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First credit company's, now Insruance company's.
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Getting the foot in the door
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The courts gave them the smack down on that one - Jurisdiction.
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