Great! In addition to video cameras on every street corner and in every store, now my car is recording how I drive. At least my toilet isn’t recording what I… Oh wait… I forgot about those toilet from Japan that analyze what you’ve eaten…

Lawmakers limit crash data – Lawmakers are paying a lot of attention to some little-known technology that collects data during car crashes.

Arkansas, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas this year followed California ’s lead in limiting who can use information from Event Data Recorders (EDRs) — devices built into vehicles that can record a car’s speed and the response of seat belts, brakes and air bags in an accident.

“Like 95 percent of the citizenry, I didn’t know these devices were in automobiles,” said Arkansas state Sen. Jim Jeffress (D), a chief sponsor of the law in his state that specifies that data from EDRs belong solely to the car owner.

I’ve read stories in the past about car rental companies using this kind of data along with GPS and other data to charge customers extra for driving outside of a state, speeding and so on. On the flip side, if you had a button on the dash that spit out the info, especially speed, you could prove to the cop you weren’t speeding. Of course, you’d want to wipe the info if you were.

By the way, searching for a photo to head this story I ran across this not-what-you-think headline: Fish Stable After Car Crash