It looks like Australia is getting some Case Law on the use of data extracted from vehicles engine management computers to prove guilt in the case of an accident. The engine computers in most modern cards also record details just before a crash such as the speed leading up to the crash and when the airbag deployed, and how hard the bang was. Of course the defense is trying to argue that the data is unreliable, which I would guess is relatively unlikely. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

In the USA there was a scandal a couple of years back with some of the car manufacturers paying tow truck drivers and the like to inform them when an accident happened so that they could get the black box. The only problem was that they were doing this without the concent of the owner of the car.

And I just found out that the Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood has a museum. Having walked past this on previous trips I had no idea. They have just opened a special exhibit on Animatronics in Movies whick looks amazing. Unfortunately is closes on September 10 so I will not get a chance to see it… Looks like an interesting place to visit.