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Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

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Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#91

Post by teeray »

chasing0entropy wrote: post #17

Remove the antennas. Do not give in to the mirage of convenience. Use a stand alone generic GPS. Vehicle GPS devices are anti privacy for so many reasons. Listen to stored music from an SD card if terrestrial radio (NO SATELLITE). Did you know almost ALL late model cars can play a TURN YOUR PHONE OFF. Your phone does more than track you - the Bluetooth and wifi beacon scanners are always running. When you come across…

> Remove the antennas. Do not give in to the mirage of convenience.

ERROR: unable to start engine.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#92

Post by ryandrake »

encom wrote: post #68
chasing0entropy wrote: post #17

Remove the antennas. Do not give in to the mirage of convenience. Use a stand alone generic GPS. Vehicle GPS devices are anti privacy for so many reasons. Listen to stored music from an SD card if terrestrial radio (NO SATELLITE). Did you know almost ALL late model cars can play a TURN YOUR PHONE OFF. Your phone does more than track you - the Bluetooth and wifi beacon scanners are always running. When you come across…

>Do not give in to the mirage of convenience. I sympathise. However, being able to start de-icing my car while still in bed at 5:30 on a January morning is a powerful feature. And I'm the kind of person who wraps his tin foil hat no less than 10 layers thick. Ideally this shouldn't involve the internet, because the car is in wifi range, but what can I do about it?

People are suggesting all over these threads what we can do about it, but we (as a population) aren't. When my 2009 car dies, I'm going to deliberately NOT buy a new trackingmobile, and try to find another 2009 car to keep running. Yea, that means I occasionally need to take 30 seconds to scrape ice off the windshield. Big deal.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#93

Post by willis936 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #69
exhilaration wrote: post #41

Disabling the hardware can be really hard, my 2025 Toyota Sienna is always connected. You can't just pull a fuse or rip out an antenna, I have to take the entire dashboard apart to reach the Data Communication Module (DCM) module. If anyone's curious what that looks like, it's a little bit easier on the Toyota Tacoma, here are some pictures of the process: https://www.tacoma4g.com/forum/threads/disabling-dcm-telemat.…

On a 2021 Camry there is an below-dash fuse labeled "DCM" which you can remove (and it does disable OnStar/telemetry, but not sat.radio[0]) — it also disables one of the speakers (used for phone calls), which there is a bypass to resolve (but it still requires removing infotainment, so at that point just unplug it there.?!). [0] It was my understanding that, like GPS-receivers, Sirius/XM was one-way streaming, only..…

There are GPS antennas that land on that DCM and the data from that is forwarded over carplay/android auto. Phones fall back to their onboard GPS but it's a much worse experience than we're accustomed to. If you share the car with someone expect complaints. Pulling the cell antenna(s) is the most elegant solution. People shouldn't be afraid of a little work.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#94

Post by ryandrake »

closewith wrote: post #31
jimnotgym wrote: post #25

Here is something else you can do about it. By an older low mileage car. If we all did that the manufacturers would change tack soon enough

I did do this, but I also want a reasonable modern and safe car and in the EU, since 2018, that means a car with eCall. I have a 2017 that I will keep going as long as is economical, but after that, it will be nearly impossible to avoid these systems.

The idea that a 20 year old car is unsafe is auto industry FUD. Yes, there have been great safety advances since the 1970s and 1980s. They've kind of tapered off though. I would absolutely trust my family's lives in any year 2000+ vehicle.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#95

Post by ErroneousBosh »

pixl97 wrote: post #61
potato3732842 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first 100yr of automobiles didn't have TPMS and it was mostly fine.

I mean if you consider that death rate per mile driven 'mostly fine'

Tyre pressure sensors have done nothing to affect that.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#96

Post by ryandrake »

chasing0entropy wrote: post #14
more_corn wrote: post #6

Is there anything we can do about it short of avoiding new cars? Our legislators have proven unwilling to pass real privacy laws.

Yes - remove the telematics radio and GPS antennas. They are usually in the overhead console area around/behind the lighting and mirror controls. In BMWs, the gps antenna is behind the upper lights, the telematics and V2V antenna is in the sharkfin(unplug it from underneath the headliner)

Giving car companies your money (and then modifying your car) is still rewarding car companies for their bad behavior. We really need to stop buying new cars and somehow make it clear that telematics are the reason, but it's never going to happen. Not enough people care, and of those who care, not enough of them care enough to stop buying these cars.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#97

Post by [deleted] »

mindslight wrote: post #77
emidln wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this data is made "anonymous" and sold to insurance companies and misc data brokers. If it's linked to my insurance company, I don't want to jack my rates. Further, I've thus far avoided a CFAA conviction and I'd like to keep it that way.

It would be an extremely totalitarian dynamic to be persecuted with the CFAA for modifying a device you own based on part of it having been (nonconsensually!) programmed by a third party to upload data to their own server. You own the device, so anything you do within that device is authorized. And the code that uploads the data is authorized to do so because it was put there by the same company that owns [controls]…

[deleted]

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#98

Post by ErroneousBosh »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #70

nothing. And banning ALPR wont fix anything either. All cars have 4 unique serial numbers broadcast via radio at all times via the TPMS system. you don't even need a camera, just a radio receiver.

> All cars have 4 unique serial numbers broadcast via radio at all times via the TPMS system.

Mine doesn't.

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#99

Post by ryandrake »

luqtas wrote: post #79
potato3732842 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>as a cyclist and public transport user with no driver license, i hope personal vehicles have so much sensors that they can detect if you are drunk or stressed and limit your reaches. fuck your metallic beetle What a great illustration of the sort of selfish opinions that people like to peddle under the guise of perceived common good. Are you willing to have your bike brakes linked up with GPS and red light signals?…

in a city that doesn't produce even 1/25 of microplastic thousand kilos vehicles produce? because that also has an impact on marine ecosystems, by the way, cars are linked as one of the highest if not the, pollutants of microplastic. in a city that doesn't have air pollution linked towards a bunch of disease? in a city that doesn't have noise pollution that also has a bazinga of negative impact? are you really naive…

You didn't answer his question: Would you be willing to have your bicycle brakes linked up with GPS and red light signals? Or loaded down with sensors monitoring and correcting your bicycling activity for your own safety?

Re: Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it

#100

Post by constantcrying »

How do you write an article about this and not mention the GDPR or EU privacy laws?

>"It’s hard to figure out exactly how much data a modern car is collecting on you"

You are a globally operating news agency. You can absolutely get some GDPR requests in and look at it. What kind of reporting is this? "We don"t know, but we also have not tried the one way which forces companies to answer this question".

BMW is a German company, just ask them for the information they have on you and they are forced to give it to you.

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