NU.co.uk, 11 Feb 2014: 'EU Commission votes for mandatory alarm system in cars'

“The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee on Tuesday approved a plan to make the so-called ecall system mandatory in all European cars.

Under that system, a SIM card would be embedded in every car, which would automatically dial 112 in case of an accident. The ecall system is already in much more expensive cars.

When the alarm is raised, the system automatically transmits the car's location, so that emergency services are called even if the car's occupants cannot speak to the emergency call centre themselves.

The European Commission suggested last year that the ecall system could possibly also be used to track stolen cars. However, CDA MEP Wim van de Camp tells NUtech that there is a lot of resistance to this, especially in the LIBE parliamentary committee, which deals with civil liberties.

Privacy

(...) Privacy organisation Privacy First says it has no problem with a security system like ecall, as long as it is not made compulsory. If it does, the organisation promises to launch a lawsuit to get it off the hook.

"The risk with this kind of system is that it is set up for one or two legitimate purposes," says Privacy First lawyer Vincent Böhre. Subsequently, however, it could be extended further and further, or abused by governments or criminals, he fears.

Deadline

From October 2015, the system should become mandatory for all new cars. (...) The full European Parliament also has yet to vote on the proposal."

Source: http://www.nu.nl/tech/3698165/commissie-eu-stemt-verplicht-alarmsysteem-in-autos.html, 11 February 2014.