Slightly off this topic. What amazes me is that our phones are surely capable of knowing when we are driving but they still allow texting. Seems like an easy win for safety yet crickets is all we get here.
A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
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Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#72Is there a reliable list of cars that do not surveil me, or that can be modified to not surveil me? I read a Bruce Schneier article a little while ago (maybe the article was much older) where he said that he looked, but didn't find one that met his other needs.
Unlikely. Based on the article, it sounds like the data they are "vacuuming" up is telemetry data captured and stored by the car itself. Every manufacture is different, but they all are storing at least some information. I suspect there are regulatory requirements to keep such information for the purposes of public safety (see: analysis of Toyota unintended acceleration situations) This information has been captured,…
I wonder if you could at least do something petty, like swap the +12v and GND pins with the Bus+ and Bus- pins on your OBDII connector so it would fry their fancy tool when they tried to read your data.
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#73I live in Washington State, where the state legislature recently voted to ban sales of gasoline powered cars after 2030. Aside from the fact that I enjoy drives through some pretty empty parts of the country, especially in the Southwest, where range is a concern (e.g., I drove the Great Basin Highway a few years ago), what bothers me about that measure is this sort of data collection thing. I wouldn't mind a move to…
California is running an experiment that collects all of your location data while in a car to collect a gas tax. Of course once they have it they will make it available for any government agency.
you have a link to that claim? all i've seen have been for electric vehicles and a mileage at the end of the year on your taxes.
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#74Slightly off this topic. What amazes me is that our phones are surely capable of knowing when we are driving but they still allow texting. Seems like an easy win for safety yet crickets is all we get here.
How would they know we are driving and not a passenger?
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't really buy a "dumb" gas car anymore either. I'm holding onto my 2011 Nissan Versa to the bitter end.
Same here with my '93 Saab. I replaced the smart (for its time) HVAC control system with an Arduino running software I wrote, but otherwise it's bone stock. I'd love an electric too, but the way I figure it, continuing to use a fairly efficient vehicle that already exists is probably better for the environment than buying something new anyway. It takes a lot of resources and material to build a car.
The problem with older cars, is that safety standards have improved dramatically in that time. So while you might have a "dumb" car that isn't spying on you, in the event of an crash, you are going to be much more likely to be injured. If I had to weigh being spied on with being injured, I'd guess the odds of being injured actually impacting my life negatively as greatly higher.
I do miss my old Saab though...
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unlikely. Based on the article, it sounds like the data they are "vacuuming" up is telemetry data captured and stored by the car itself. Every manufacture is different, but they all are storing at least some information. I suspect there are regulatory requirements to keep such information for the purposes of public safety (see: analysis of Toyota unintended acceleration situations) This information has been captured,…
I wonder if you could at least do something petty, like swap the +12v and GND pins with the Bus+ and Bus- pins on your OBDII connector so it would fry their fancy tool when they tried to read your data.
This also makes it impossible for other mechanics to diagnose and fix your vehicle. It also makes it much harder for you to use that port to diagnose and fix the vehicle yourself with readily available tools you can buy. The OBDII port is a blessing, not a curse. There are things you can do to limit the telemetry (this will be on a case-by-case basis for the vehicle and manufacturer, so I'm not going to detail specifics) but that is one of the sillier things you can do.
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can get a USB Condom [1] for this purpose. [1] - https://www.amazon.com/PortaPow-3rd-Gen-Data-Blocker/dp/B06X...
Thank you, I just bought two! But any idea for if you're connected via Bluetooth?
Probably not without controlling one side of the communication. On the cell phone, you would need something that enforces mandatory access controls on what data can be sent over Bluetooth. Ideally a smart phone hacker could chime in. I've never owned one. Another potential option would be to root the car, likely voiding any warranty and potentially creating other liability implications.
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am always shocked when people make these sorts of pairings with devices they don't even own. I often see employees pairing person phones with corporate fleet vehicles too. It's unfortunately an example of where people rank convenience over privacy almost every single time.
I mean, most people wouldn’t suspect all their contacts would get copied over to the rental car. Before CarPlay I’d routinely “just hit okay” my way though pairing my phone to the rental car.
Agreed, this seems more like a UX problem than a "people don't value privacy" problem.
No reasonable person would ever expect that connecting your phone to a car's wireless audio system would transfer all your contacts -- but that's Bluetooth for you!
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really, really hate this. Why not just require an annual odometer reading and multiply by vehicle weight to determine how much should be owed to cover road and transportation infrastructure costs? Far easier than maintaining a complex system to track every drivers' location over time. Ugh.
I suspect being able to assign infrastructure money to the correct county public works departments is a thing. And even on the more simple sense, your odometer read would let California tax people for miles they drove outside of California. Not that I support this initiative at all, but your suggestion misses some key issues.
Assuming the tax rate was flat, regardless of the road, usage could be found as it is now, with road sensors and cameras. If they want to have different rates for different roads, then that could make sense.
Re: A CBP contract shows the risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone
#80I live in Washington State, where the state legislature recently voted to ban sales of gasoline powered cars after 2030. Aside from the fact that I enjoy drives through some pretty empty parts of the country, especially in the Southwest, where range is a concern (e.g., I drove the Great Basin Highway a few years ago), what bothers me about that measure is this sort of data collection thing. I wouldn't mind a move to…
We should get a WA state law passed controlling information access for cars. I'm sure it will be really hard with all the usual suspects against it. Most recent cars have a privacy policy and have some part of opt out. But it's unclear what you really get. A customer friendly law would be something like you can opt out and have your private tracking info deleted whenever you want. We should have a law against phone company tracking too. A year later and they have no reason to know what cell towers I was at, unless they are selling tracking on people. You've always paid the bill in a couple of months at most anyway.