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Hertz Puts Cameras In Its Rental Cars, Says It Has No Plans To Use Them
schwit1 writes Hertz has added a camera to many of its newer cars that uses the "NeverLost" navigational device. So why is Hertz creeping out customers with cameras it's not using? "Hertz added the camera as a feature of the NeverLost 6 in the event it was decided, in the future, to activate live agent connectivity to customers by video. In that plan the customer would have needed to turn on the camera by pushing a button (while stationary)," Hertz spokesperson Evelin Imperatrice explained. "The camera feature has not been launched, cannot be operated and we have no current plans to do so."
Or get a banana with a sticker on it. Eat the banana, and put the sticker over the camera.
We had plans to launch the camera feature. At least, enough to actually bother paying for cameras to be installed. But (now that our intent has been covered in the media), we no longer have such plans.
I just had a rental from them while my car was in the shop -- Chrysler 200 -- it had the annoying as feck GPS / nav unit.
On vehicle start up, after about 5 seconds it would play a super annoying jingle followed by "Hertz!". No way to turn down the volume, disable it, or turn off the nav unit entirely.
Starting the car.. I felt like Peter on office space preparing to get shocked by the door handle.
Methinks that they went this route to stop people from going postal on that fucking thing, and destroying it. (After a week I was about to.)
But I don't like bananas :(
SJW n. One who posts facts.
But I don't like bananas :(
Well. Tough luck. To be a privacy conscious person, one has to eat bananas.
I have an evil-genius 2-step plan on how to fight this.
first, you need to have a small a/v player. hey, smart phones can play audio and video! now, we need a reducer so that we can 'pipe' the video into the camera, optically, to create the illusion that the car is empty (or in any state we want). easy to pipe in audio, simply by putting the phone spkr near the mic.
2nd part of the plan is to edit the contract (adding a section) that says you may, at your option, provide 'performance art' inside the car. something to that effect.
now that you've set it up, have some fun! what could you record that would be great for playback, for them to see? fake a murder? fake a corporate take-over? fake a plot of some kind? some other kind of intentional mis-direction?
you already covered yourself by the performance-art clause. you can laugh it off when you sign their contract and just make a joke about the camera. if done properly, they won't know what you have in mind.
the rest, as they say: 'hillarity will ensue'.
and unless its illegal (its not) to pipe in any video stream you want in front of a spycam, you can do this and mess with their data collection while having some well-earned laughs at their expense.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
or put a picture from another car of all the passengers and the driver with their hands in the air screaming in terror in front of the lens....