OnStar - Big Brother's Eye in the Sky

            In Jonathan Locker's article "OnStar: Big Brother's Eye in the Sky," his use of persuasive literary techniques are impressive. He starts off his paper with an attention- gripping opener of fast cars and police pursuit which gets his readers excited, only to smash the thrilling imagery by informing them that with OnStar on board this scenario will be a thing of the past. He then moves on to talk about the features OnStar has, some more well known than others, and then spins stories of how these features can be abused. Locker then moves on to prognosticate that if allowed to continue, OnStar will eventually evolve into completely monitored driving, where the driver will no longer even have the ability to speed, because the vehicles GPS will track you and won't allow you to speed. His storytelling, though captivating and interesting, does not convince the educated reader to side with his opinion.
             Locker's paper was brilliantly crafted to persuade the reader to believe GM (makers of OnStar) are invading your privacy, even though there is no evidence provided of such things occurring, or records of it happening in the past. Each of his writing techniques are even brought up in a particular order to make it even more effective. Locker starts off by telling the reader how OnStar works and what systems and features are on it, which lets his readers know he has researched the topic and also gives them knowledge on the subject so the readers can understand the issues brought up later. Next he writes fictional scenarios of how these features can be abused and used against the car owner, getting the reader scared that this could be happening or has already happened to them. Next, Locker briefly talks about how the systems of OnStar are used for good purposes too, like how the systems can save lives, which everyone already knows that this is OnStar's primary purpose. This, in turn, shows the reader that he is a levelheaded person and acknowledges the oppositions point of view, which is key to winning over the opinion of your audience.