Automakers Give the Chinese Government Access To Location Data of Electric Cars (theverge.com)

According to a new report from The Associated Press, a number of China's government officials and entities have had access to the location data of "new energy vehicles" from many different manufacturers. "More than 200 manufacturers (both national and foreign) transmit the data to 'government-backed monitoring centers,' according to the report, including one called 'The Shanghai Electric Vehicle Public Data Collecting, Monitoring and Research Center' and another known as the 'National Big Data Alliance of New Energy Vehicles,'" reports The Verge. From the report: Chinese officials told the AP that this data -- which includes the real-time location of cars, plus "dozens of other data points" -- is collected to "improve public safety" and "facilitate industrial development and infrastructure planning." The officials say the data is also used to "prevent fraud" in the government's subsidy program for new energy vehicles, which offers steep discounts on clean cars. The monitoring systems have been in place since the beginning of 2017, according to a report by the International Council on Clean Transportation from last year. Staffers at the data monitoring centers are able to look at a map, click on a car, and see things like make and model, mileage, and battery charge, according to the AP report.

Comments

In China, your car talks to the government

[WoodstockJeff]

https://yro.slashdot.org/story...

Re: In China, your car talks to the government

[Anonymous Coward]

They should track them. Those things catch on fire as often as a viet cong hideout

Re: In China, your car talks to the government

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, Asia's a continent.

Better not drive too close to misfits!

[SuperKendall]

I'm pretty sure your social score will be affected if you drive to somewhere a lot of low social score people are gathered, just a heads up there.

Brings a new meaning to "dive bar" as your score plummets enjoying a quiet drink in a place with character.

Re:Better not drive too close to misfits!

[Anonymous Coward]

I really hope this doesn't start happening.

Geolocating people and correlating based on distance is a sure fire way to associate people with the wrong things. Heck, your neighbor could be a pedophile, that doesn't mean living next door to them makes you a pedophile.

Re:Better not drive too close to misfits!

[AHuxley]

In the USA the government knows who is driving and who the passenger is with CCTV.
In China the government knows who is not a good communist and if they are still driving.

Re: Better not drive too close to misfits!

[astrofurter]

And a Soviet American person's "credit score" measures how good a capitalist he is. At least the Chinese are honest about their totalitarianism.

Re:China is the bogeyman

[Anonymous Coward]

"I can't admit China is a totalitarian big brother state that has 1 million Uighurs in prison for no reason, I must make this about America!" - Some faggot

Re: China is the bogeyman

[Anonymous Coward]

So, when are the new models coming out again? I want to drive one from one end of town to the other

Here it comes

[Anonymous Coward]

Loss of full independence and freedom via car traveling will be gone from the US soon enough. We seem to allow and accept that someone can turn a key somewhere and it takes/gives range to our EVs. I was outraged when I heard Tesla 'unlocked' range for those in a natural disaster. Why dont they have the choice? Who makes Tesla the stewards? First China, us in.. what. 5 years?

And in the US?

[Anonymous Coward]

If anyone thinks this can happen in the US, they are lying to themselves. It is my main concern with respect to modern cars, electric and gas both. With all the bundled electronics, and remote connections for OTA updates, they are potential surveillance devices, if not already in fact.

Wonder if this functionality is on with GM...

[Anonymous Coward]

GM imports vehicles from China, mainly some Buicks (the Envision), and some Cadillac models.

I wonder if this Chinese tracking "functionality" is turned off when the vehicles hit our shores, or if the maker even knows or cares that this is on.

Re: Wonder if this functionality is on with GM...

[astrofurter]

Everything you do, every step you take, every word you breathe in Soviet America is snooped, databased, analyzed, scored, and snitched. 'Cuz nothing says "land of the free" like a totalitarian police state.

Re: Wonder if this functionality is on with GM...

[ffkom]

"Freedom" is a concept that people who grew up after the ubiquity of the S(mart|nitch)phones never experienced first hand and can hardly comprehend at all.

It's especially funny when younger people attempt to create some sort of simulation of the past, as in "Red Dead Redemption 2", but are unable to get even the simple aspect correct that back then, if you shot some stranger in the woods without any witnesses around, there was no "overlord system" in existence immediately assigning a "Wanted" state to you.

Oh it's coming

[SuperKendall]

I really hope this doesn't start happening.

I am pretty sure it will, because all the data is there and the idea is just too obvious for many higher up people to make it happen.

Geolocating people and correlating based on distance is a sure fire way to associate people with the wrong things.

Yes it is, but the argument will be made that generally hanging around lower score people mean you have some kind of problem and your score should be docked as well.

All kinds of delightful side effects at the intersection of ubiquitous monitoring and social scoring!

IN USA your car talks to the government

[Anonymous Coward]

Your car computer also talks to insurance companies and the police if you have an accident.
Especially airbag events. Which is why I have a geology pick and a nail spear to put a hole in the electronic tattletales after an accident.

As for the chinese problem, use a devise to find the gizmo. Then add a rasberry Pi to filter/drop packets that are being sent behind your back.
https://www.edmunds.com/car-technology/car-black-box-recorders-capture-crash-data.html

all my stuff calls home to Xi

[Anonymous Coward]

So I have a solar panel with an inverter on my home, the only way I can read how much power I am using is to set it up so that it sends that information to *China* so I can then look at it via my phone app...now if China wanted to take out the grid all they would need to do is backdoor that and it's all over red rover....

Of course the same can be said for my Chinese made TV, my chinese made router, my chinese made 'smart water meter', my Chinese made IP security cams, even my Chinese made bluetooth padlocks.

If war with china comes we are all f*cked. .

Re:all my stuff calls home to Xi

[couchslug]

YOU chose most of that shit so you volunteered. I don't do IoT because it's stupidly vulnerable. I don't have a TV because television is a push content stupidity pump you should hate as much as I do. I use wired security cams not connected to the internet. My router is a repurposed PC. You could meter your power at home without an app. You chose hardware which prevents this.

  I have none of your listed problems because I took care not to.

Re: China is the bogeyman

[k2r]

> faggot

Your homophobia surely validates your point.

collecting data for no good reason

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm shocked... SHOCKED I tell you. Who could have forseen this unexpected development of the vendor abusing the location data they collected for no good reason? /s

Things this will not be used for:

[Anonymous Coward]

Improving public safety
Facilitating industrial and infrastructure development and planning
Preventing fraud

Looks like Orwell had a tardis. Oh no, not creepy

[Anonymous Coward]

at all!