Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC the amounts involved were absolutely pitiful compared to the reputational damage-- they were being paid on the order of $10/car/year.
What reputational damage? I know it's a number that gets calculated on cybersecurity assessment sheets, but I've never seen it being in any way connected to reality. Best I can tell, the actual reputational damage is almost universally $0. Security breaches are non-actionable oopsies - unless your product is literally preventing such breaches[0], it's going to be seen as a random event that has no bearing on customer…
Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
211–220 of 366 posts
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
> He works against the public interest and should be called out for it It's an elected position in Texas. I understand that most of the people who frequent Hacker News wouldn't share his politics, but it's pretty undemocratic to "call him out" incessantly, even when it adds nothing to the situation being discussed, and in particular when he's been elected by a vote. It's mindless preaching to the choir to show that,…
> What value does this have? I'm literally trying to get him voted out because he gets rich harming people I care about. If you think an elected official working against the interests of the constituency is just going to naturally get voted out of office, I don't have the energy for the depth this conversation requires.
Assertions of opinion as if they were fact is part of what makes me bristle. To do this and then act surprised that I might not exactly share your view and that it would take extreme energy on your part to continue is a bit churlish, don't you think?
> If you think an elected official working against the interests of the constituency is just going to naturally get voted out of office
I do think that. If it's not happening in your mind, then I'd have to ask, what means are you using to judge the "interests of the constituency?" In particular, outside of polling, how can you be confident your measure truly represents a majority?
> I don't have the energy for the depth this conversation requires.
It's not that I begrudge you your position, it's just that I openly wonder if this is the best place and means to put forth these opinions. Again, if you are worried that votes will not be effective, then broadcasting this message where the majority already likely holds this view seems, to me, misguided.
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#213Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#214They also should be looking at other brands who did this - like Subaru, Hyundai/Kia, Mitsubishi, etc. I recall that Subaru in particular did not revise their location sharing policy when articles came out earlier this year about how these companies resell data to brokers like Lexis Nexis or Verisk. If you get a new Subaru with a Sirius XM radio for example, something that gets forced onto many or all configuration of…
We should just have full data-autonomy enshrined in law. This starts that path.
HIPAA was basically created to do this (require your consent to receive your information, then require your consent to transmit or share it, within reason) but lack of data security means our private medical data still gets leaked. So I agree we absolutely need all personal data to be treated like HIPAA (at minimum) but it's kind of pointless without improved security requirements.
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
> He works against the public interest and should be called out for it It's an elected position in Texas. I understand that most of the people who frequent Hacker News wouldn't share his politics, but it's pretty undemocratic to "call him out" incessantly, even when it adds nothing to the situation being discussed, and in particular when he's been elected by a vote. It's mindless preaching to the choir to show that,…
> What value does this have? I'm literally trying to get him voted out because he gets rich harming people I care about. If you think an elected official working against the interests of the constituency is just going to naturally get voted out of office, I don't have the energy for the depth this conversation requires.
Regardless of what you think that's exactly how democracy works. If enough of his constituency thinks he is working against their interests they will vote him out. Conversely, if enough of his constituency thinks he is working for their interests he will get (re)elected.
Democracy means sometimes people you don't like are elected to positions you'd rather they not be in, but that's the rub.
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#216https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/how-figure-out-what-yo...
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you say "Paxton is a crook", do you mean you believe he steals, or do you mean he was convicted, or that he should be convicted? Was Paxton convicted of a crime? Was Paxton accused of a crime you believe he is guilty of?
He's a well known crook.. he's been repeatedly indicted for serious financial crimes but due to his position in government, the charges either were dropped for nonsense reasons or just never prosecuted for over 9 years... https://apnews.com/article/paxton-indictment-texas-d5e57fc6c... Then afterwards nearly a dozen of his staffers whistleblew to the FBI about his relationship with an Austin-based real estate develope…
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You want to hurt the company and it's owners... The owners of big companies include lots of pension plans, index funds, etc. Hurting those owners, who didn't have any say in the bad decisions, is probably not what we want. Jail for executives who approve or have knowledge of illegal activities sounds good to me.
> Jail for executives who approve or have knowledge of illegal activities sounds good to me. I suspect one possible outcome is many people wouldn't want to take the risk to become an executive, and the percentage of executives who wouldn't mind taking risks of going to jail will increase, which is not a desirable outcome.
Jailing people with only knowledge isn't the right move compared to having a fully anonymous whistleblower program, with fine sharing. It sucks that there has to be zero transparency but you don't want some unfortunate schmuck doing the right thing and then getting blackballed for the rest of their career for it. But jailing the people with authority and accountability is completely doable-- if you didn't know that's on you because it's literally your job to know and that lands you 3rd degree $crime. If they can prove you knew that's 2nd degree, and if they can prove you ordered it or signed off on it then that's 1st degree.
Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#219Re: Texas sues GM for unlawfully collecting and selling drivers' private data [pdf]
#220Ford tracks me and I'm happy about it. I even got a developer API key so I can write scripts that remotely lock and unlock my car doors, download my vehicle telemetry, etc. The "find-my-car" feature alone is worth it. As long as they don't sell my data (they don't) I'm all about it.
> They also say they can share your personal information with dealers (there are lots of those around for sure), social media platforms, advertising companies, joint marketing partners, SIRIUS XM radio service, law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and other government agencies.