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Car Manufacturers Are Tracking Millions of Cars (boingboing.net)
Cory Doctorow writes:
Millions of new cars sold in the US and Europe are "connected," having some mechanism for exchanging data with their manufacturers after the cars are sold; these cars stream or batch-upload location data and other telemetry to their manufacturers, who argue that they are allowed to do virtually anything they want with this data, thanks to the "explicit consent" of the car owners -- who signed a lengthy contract at purchase time that contained a vague and misleading clause deep in its fine-print.
Slashdot reader Luthair adds that "OnStar infamously has done this for some time, even if the vehicle's owner was not a subscriber of their services." But now 78 million cars have an embedded cyber connection, according to one report, with analysts predicting 98% of new cars will be "connected" by 2021. The Washington Post calls it "Big Brother on Wheels."
"Carmakers have turned on a powerful spigot of precious personal data, often without owners' knowledge, transforming the automobile from a machine that helps us travel to a sophisticated computer on wheels that offers even more access to our personal habits and behaviors than smartphones do."
Slashdot reader Luthair adds that "OnStar infamously has done this for some time, even if the vehicle's owner was not a subscriber of their services." But now 78 million cars have an embedded cyber connection, according to one report, with analysts predicting 98% of new cars will be "connected" by 2021. The Washington Post calls it "Big Brother on Wheels."
"Carmakers have turned on a powerful spigot of precious personal data, often without owners' knowledge, transforming the automobile from a machine that helps us travel to a sophisticated computer on wheels that offers even more access to our personal habits and behaviors than smartphones do."
What about second-hand buyers? They don't typically sign a contract with original dealer or manufacturer.
Table-ized A.I.
I can't find the source any more but any 2018 and later year model vehicle in US must be sold with remote engine kill capability. That's why I bought a 2017 car and will keep it for as long as it runs, and then I'll be digging some old junker with a distributor and carburetor.
Insurers getting their hands on your data and 'optimizing' their policies to it.
Way to pick one of the ONLY positive outcomes of this technology to bitch about.
...and she said everything was okay, that nobody was tracking anything.
As of 18th May there are strong limits on slurping up data without explicit buy in from the subject.
Now I have to cover my car in tin foil too.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
No need. Just don't pay for that service and the modem don't broadcast anymore.
It is opt in as you have to opt into paying for that service.
You only have to pay if you want them to provide a service to you. I doesn't mean they aren't continuously siphoning telematics and location information off your car for their benefit.
Gm uses the phone they build into the car whether you like it or not, and whether you bought minutes or not. And if it can't find a cell tower, it goes satellite. Yup, more than one band is available.
I know this is true on my 2012 Volt - because I can still use the car phone in places where cell phones do not have any bars at all, and don't work. But it's expensive and I haven't bought any minutes in years.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
Naw. It will end with some hackers knowing how to cut the CAN bus wire to their cellular modem, and 99% of people being sheep, which ultimately (strangely) will benefit society.
And THAT will end with cars whose capabilities are severely restricted, or which simply won't function at all, without regular 'permission packets' from the mothership. Soon an active data connection to your car's manufacturer will be a critical system without which your car won't run. 'SaaS' has already become 'HaaS' in things like fitness watches and thermostats - how long do you think it will be before cars suffer the same fate?
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
The problem is going to be finding cars with low mileage and in good condition that can continue on and be fixed up. I would buy a new car if this crap wasn't on it.
You're not the only one who's doing this, so you'd best buy your NEXT old car or two within a couple of years, mothball it, and put it on blocks. Otherwise, when the time comes, a viable older car may be unavailable. Then again, by the time your existing old cars die, it may simply be illegal to drive anything that hasn't been pre-pwned by the manufacturer and/or the gubmint.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
The infotainment system in my 2012 Prius requires a tethered phone for its Internet uplink in order for its dumb little infotainment apps to work. I never set that up so the page full of apps is totally useless.
However! The MP3 player is somehow displaying cover art that is definitely not included in any ID3 tags or anywhere else on the USB flash drive. So it must be sending track title info ... somewhere ... somehow ... and getting JPEG images back.
Which means that someone, somewhere, has a list of all the songs I've played in my car, no doubt tagged with my VIN and correlated with my true name.
What other data are the collecting? The car does have an excellent interior mic for use with bluetooth.
Of course they're a drain, but they can already raise rates whenever they like, without technology like this.
The auto insurance market functions much more closely to a free market than, for example, health insurance. It is viable for most people to switch auto insurers, they aren't stuck with whatever their employer picks. Thats an incentive for auto insurers to offer lower rates where possible, to incite people to switch. Currently they determine who the douches on the road are by proxy - do they drive a Corvette? Is it red? Is their email address @hotmail.com? Much more efficient would be to measure the douche factor directly.
Whether they pass the savings on to society or pocket the difference is a totally separate question. Assuming their attitudes in that regard don't change, this still only hurts shitty drivers.
Next step is to require a connected phone before the car will work, to validate the driver as an anti-theft protection of course. Now the telematics can use your data connection!
Indeed, false hyperbole is literally the worst thing ever.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.