Big brother wants to place black boxes in your car

The government has essentially dictated what goes in ECU's for a decade and a half. Why is this news?

I fail to see how a black box is Big Brother-ish. The recent Australian proposal to charge per kilometre, now that sounds a bit Big Brother-ish.<p>Poor headline, I think.

I suppose the big-brotherish aspect is the assumption they will eventually be configured to track all the important parameters of usage.<p>On the other hand these could also be gateway devices that evolve into a necessary component for smart roads.

Kind of silly editorializing in the headline, no?

Aren't these pretty standard in new cars already?