A friend just posted this article on FB. Evidently TomTom advised Dutch law enforcement of the best locations for speed traps, based on its users’ speed data.
Speculation (in the article) notwithstanding that TomTom might intentionally route people through speed traps, I would hope that Waze would take a more enlightened approach to the use of its data: in particular, by advocating the “85th Percentile Rule” promoted by the National Motorists Association and other groups. Rather than use speed data to generate revenue in the name of “safety”, it should be used to promote real safety: by using the accumulated speed data to determine what the speed limit of a road ought to be.
addition: tomtom denies it knowlingly sells information to police directly. It’s being done by an intermediary company and TomTom claims no more intel will be sold to traffic police
What I’ve read is that the data WAS sold by TomTom and not a separate company. You’re correct in saying that they’re denying they did it knowingly. It seems that they’re saying, “yes, we do sell information to the government… but we didn’t know they would use it like this!” :roll: Go figure, right? I don’t believe that for a second.
I think that both TomTom AND the local police are at fault in this situation. This data could be used for good, rather than to further their money-grubbing causes. And I strongly believe that money, rather than safety, is the main motivator behind those stupid speed cameras.
On a side note, I’m so glad I moved back to California where we don’t have speed cameras.