In today's Orwell department, the Associated Press is reporting that a new "high-tech monitoring device" makes it possible to reduce—or, possibly, raise—insurance premiums for drivers based on their day-to-day driving habits. The black box-like device tells the insurer—Progressive, in this case—what time people drive, how many miles they've driven, how fast they accelerate and how often they hit the brakes.

Progressive has begun offering its drivers the chance to cut their costs based on how they actually drive, not only on their age, credit score and number of tickets or accidents on their record, according to the report. The devices don't track where people drive, incidentally; just their driving patterns. "Under Progressive's program, customers can earn a first-term discount of up to 10 percent just for signing up. When they renew their policy, their rate could decrease by up to 60 percent based on their driving habits. But it could also increase by up to 9 percent."

So far, Progressive has rolled out the program in Alabama, Minnesota, Oregon and Michigan. New Jersey is up on August 8th, while a full national rollout of the program will be completed by sometime in 2009.

"The consumer is really being given an opportunity to potentially reduce their auto insurance premium in exchange for giving their auto insurer access to information that currently isn't available to them," said Michael Barry, a vice president at the Insurance Information Institute, in the report.

(Image credit: AFP/File/Timothy A. Clary)