I'm In Love With My Car.... ?

I'm not in love with my car in the way that Queen was in love with a car. It's not about the speed, the gears, the grease guns and so forth for me. 

It's about the freedom, and to some extent, the privacy.

Well, I have an older car, and I like what I can hear in it. I can borrow free CDs  (or do I mean DVDs?) from the library and listen to audio books in the player in the dashboard.  I have free FM and AM radio and can listen to free local stations for rock music, new, even some weather alerts. The only price I "pay" is that I have to listen to advertisements, but I am not going "there" today.

Why on earth am I talking about terrestrial cars in an alien romance blog? Because I talk about copyright, and creativity, the arts, and the use of English, and English writing skills.

By the way, I saw something interesting on an E.F.F. mailing recently. That is, the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Allegedly, some police are using generative AI to write their reports. Apparently, lots can go wrong with that. You think?

The generative report is based on the sound track captured by body-worn camera audio. So it could be worse. Speak clearly, distinctly, loudly and avoid using words with multiple meanings, I assume. Avoid sarcasm. "Yes, sir, No, sir..." and hold the "three bags full, sir."

So, if you are stopped in your car, give some thought to what you can do in case the generative AI gets too creative. E.F.F. writer Matthew Guariglia has some guidelines, and suggestions about filing a request to discover whether AI was used to write the report about your encounter. There are bills in Utah and California to require police to retain the first drafts of their reports, to show which parts were written by the police officer, and which were written by AI.

Sources: 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/victory-california-requires-transparency-ai-police-reports?utm_source=effector

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/effs-guide-getting-records-about-axons-ai-generated-police-reports

I don't miss satellite subscription services such as On Star, and Sirius (and it drives me up the proverbial wall that they want to pronounce their name "serious"... why name yourself after the Dog Star, if you want to be taken seriously? Apart from the cleverness, of course.)

There is a similar word, "Epoch", that seems to be routinely enunciated at "epic". Try not to say either to a police offer wearing a body camera.

What set me off on this mental trek was an article that I cannot credit, by Nic Anderson, an author whom I cannot credit with a link, because if I do, this blog post will be squelched. 

His article is searchable, and describes how American automakers aspire to curate what you hear in your car. His first words are: "Imagine starting your car and realizing that what you hear --or can't hear--has already been decided for you." If you clip and paste that quote, the wonders of Google (and I mean that most sincerely) will take you to the source.

It sounds like a "brave new world", doesn't it? Why would automakers want to do that? Why wouldn't they want a driver to listen to FM radio, for example? Or to Apple CarPlay or the Android equivalent? 

It doesn't seem to be an ethically-driven move to protect the copyrights of musicians and songwriters. Could it be a move similar to Amazon making its own content for Prime TV?

Does GM have a garage band or two?

Is it about bending minds, or about subscription models, to make more money? Or, is it about customer retention? Or all of the above? 

Nic has some thoughts and a to do list for listeners.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

https://www.spacesnark.com/  

https://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday