They already track your license plate using car and stop light mounted cameras…
I’ve been saying it for years, starting with those idiotic voice activated “smart” speakers from Google or Amazon in people’s homes. Nobody pays attention to what’s happening behind the scenes, even when the press breaks a story about some unsavoury bullshit (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47893082) like “voice recordings are occasionally reviewed to improve speech recognition but the reaction to the Bloomberg article suggests many customers are unaware that humans may be listening.” That’s you, that’s you and your GF/wife talking about your work (possibly including restricted information), friends and family, politics, or about how you’re trying to work on getting your entire hand to fit inside of her. The thought that these same companies would design and furnish technology for vehicles without engaging in the same kind of stuff is absurd.
Too few people know, fewer care if you bother to tell them about it. They’d be aghast to know that what they had bought and installed in their living room/dining room/den/bedroom/bathroom is essentially a voluntary bug, yet telling them that the cops could subpoena the companies in question to excise the unit’s data and review everything they’ve been saying in the privacy of their vehicle over a relevant (or maybe not-so-relevant) period of time pursuant to an investigation usually will get you idiotic comments about how “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”
The content in question can at the very least affect their insurance, at worst be used as a honeypot by people seeking to exert influence via blackmail, or extort the person in question. The end-user risk is the same as that described concerning their use in households. Just think about all of the “uncomfortable conversations” or sex that you’ve had in your/someone else’s car over the decades - ask yourself if you’d want an open mic sitting there, which may or may not be later reviewed by persons unknown. This is the kind of information which may become available to cops, and worse yet, they don’t always need warrants. There’s been a pervasive culture of simply leaning into those unwilling to turn it over, in the kind of theme seen in recent years with doorbell cams. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t pull the same routine with a vehicle’s computer data, whether or not it involves cameras/mics.
Just putting this out there, I will never pay for a subscription service in my car. I didn’t do it for the radio, I didn’t do it for onstar, and I won’t do it for anything else. I know I’m not the only one. If a car has a “feature” I have to keep paying for after I bought the car, no it doesn’t.
afaik, even if you don’t pay and never pay, features like onstar are still ‘active’, still have cellular connections enabled, and are still tracking your every move.
And attempting to circumvent them results in a DMCA if you get caught! Wonderful! Fucking clown world we live in.
Huh. I didn’t get a DMCA when I unplugged the OnStar module in my car…
I know someone that hasn’t paid taxes in years. Hasn’t been hounded by the IRS yet. Everything in our society is people. People are fallible. The image that the system is working is more powerful than the actual system at work.
Nobody’s going to DMCA strike you for removing a fuse
I think that it was BMW or Jaguar that proposed a subscription-based seat heating option? I don’t know where these people get their ideas, it’s just wild.
Correct. The next time I have to buy a car that will be part of my criteria: if I’m paying more than $40k for something that shit doesn’t get to include a subscription.
That’s a smart buying strategy, but unless you’re actually pulling out the antennas these subscription services use it won’t be an effective security strategy
For the time being I won’t even buy the car. I know there’s going to be a day where that’s not possible. But for now, it’s immediately off any list of be considering.
There’s been an uptick in people interested in the older Ford F-series trucks and C/K Chevs. Barebones dash, heating & A/C system, radio, glove box. No weird electronic options, to Lowjack, nothing. I’m hopeful of some of the Japanese companies releasing new-model vehicles without all of the extra electronic baloney, but that’s a problem for another day.
Closest thing you’ll get to that is an MX-5. Their stringent weight philosophy doesn’t allow for much electronics. I have a '19 club and it weighs ~2350 lbs. Which is like the weight of the wiring harnesses alone of a Tesla. The MX-5/Miata is about as bare bones as it gets for a newer legal vehicle.
Interesting idea, this bears looking into.
Oh, as a potential role model, I definitely advocate for it. Ive owned corvettes, a WRX, GTO, Trans Am, and driven far more powerful and much more expensive cars and believe it or not, it’s by FAR my favorite. Between the driving characteristics, drop top joy, stereo and relative privacy, not to mention the absurdly low price of entry, I personally call it the perfect car. And if you are unsure of that stamp of approval, “Miata is always the answer” is a well known phrase amongst gearheads.
Edit: oh yeah… It’s also reliable and fuel efficient.
TBH, I’m glad to see so many on the road now that I’m seeing fewer MGBs. The Miata’s a worthy successor to foreign-auto roadster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_MGB
Got a '97 and yeah, nothing beats it if you’re someone who loves to drive for driving’s sake. Analog instrumentation, no screens, no “click here” buttons, no auto removed making decisions for me, no cameras or microphones or recording devices. It does have a rudimentary “cruise control” - probably a bad omen for things to come - but it only tries to maintain your speed, it doesn’t try to match the speed of the car in front of you or otherwise encourage distracted driving.
The other vehicle I have is a 2005 Wrangler, nearly as analog as the Miata. I can’t imagine getting rid of either in favor of an oversized, rolling surveillance computer.
Lmao! My other vehicle is an '11 Wrangler! Please tell me both are manual?
Captain obvious has entered the chat.
In an August 2022 email, one detective noted: “In some vehicles, again [it] depends on manufacturer, the vehicle is still doing this despite the lack of an active subscription, and just sending the data back to the mother ship. This could be due to collecting user data for what the manufacturer sells it for, to providing this data to try to sell you on renewing your [subscription] package that lapsed.”
So it doesn’t matter if you’ve subscribed, they’re surveilling you.
Yep, unless you get down to the level of pulling antennas off of circuit boards, but you’ll probably have to be careful that that doesn’t set off some sort of anti tampering system that shuts the whole car down
e; Also, doing these kinds of modifications are definitely going to violate your car warranty and maybe void your car insurance
Also also, any time you’re messing around with electrical components there’s a non-zero chance of electrocution or starting a fire, so in good conscience I can’t say this is a realistically safe option that people should pursue (like, I wouldn’t stop anyone from doing it, but I’m not encouraging it, just trying to highlight how completely fucked the situation is for consumers in the United States)
Dummy load. System thinks there’s still an antenna, but it doesn’t actually transmit or receive anything.
You could do it, assuming that you had the genuine schematics available to you, but even something so harmless as modifying the components to remove wireless connectivity could violate clauses on both your car insurance and/or car’s warranty.
I asked an older relative about this sort of idea years ago when these systems were new, and they related to me a story about an acquaintance who had decades earlier modified the electronics on their car (automatic cabin light activation when doors open), and wound up burning to death after an accident because they inadvertently damaged the car’s electronic lock control system. I’m not saying that you need to be a Professor of Electrical Engineering, but please reconsider.
electronic lock
Why TF would anyone have a car with such a device? Key … key in hand … insert key into lock assembly … turn key … door unlocks and can now be opened. It’s simple, effective, proven tech that doesn’t need computers or come with any “burned up in the car because door locked” risk. Sure it doesn’t make any loud noises that draw attention to you when you lock/unlock, but that’s a positive thing.
Yeah, this is actually a really good point I should edit into my post
Something worth considering is all, no need to edit IMO.
