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Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

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Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#251
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disabling the antennas is the only way to be sure. There will typically be a coax connection that you can cap with a terminator. GPS can be merged with other radios you might not want to lose but suitable splitters are available.

GPS uses a different frequency and a very weak signal. The antenna is typically separate from the others but it's very small 1. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/gnss-chip-antenna-hooku...

>aluminium foil tape

uh-oh

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#253

I posted a flavor of this comment on an article a few months ago, but it's relevant here: I have a seven year old Volkswagen, not financed. I'm security conscious and made sure to disable all the data collection I could find in the companion app before removing my account, turn off remote access services, dig through the infotainment to turn off what I could, etc. Last year I requested a Carfax on it, and one of the…

[deleted]

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#254

I posted a flavor of this comment on an article a few months ago, but it's relevant here: I have a seven year old Volkswagen, not financed. I'm security conscious and made sure to disable all the data collection I could find in the companion app before removing my account, turn off remote access services, dig through the infotainment to turn off what I could, etc. Last year I requested a Carfax on it, and one of the…

Try finding the fuse and pulling it. It will be in the manual.

Very sadly, pulling the DCM fuse in a modern Toyota Yaris (EU/JP market) kills Bluetooth and front-right speaker to

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#255

That‘ll happen when you don‘t have meaningful data protection laws.

All European car manufacturers pull a crazy amount of telemetry data from your car. Either via permanent 4G/5G link or during service intervals in the shop. Source: I analyzed these data as an intern for one.

Can you describe it? I'm assuming speed, acceleration, GPS, infotainment use.

Surely its not sending backup camera footage, chair recline position, turn signal usage.

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#256
post #43

My car is from 2017, so thankfully it's not.

My car is much older and I used to hope it would last forever. But now I hope it dies soon enough that when I go to replace it, the options for non smart cars haven't gone away.

They aren't going to go away. You can still buy cars that are 50 years old.

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#257
post #119

I notice that not one comment here, nor the article, notes that this doesn't happen with a Tesla.

theverge doesn't like Tesla and neither do the vast majority of people here. Why provide a fair and balanced view if it helps someone we don't like?

Because HN/nerds like to think of ourselves as objective, open to the truth and data driven results. Then we find out, we're no better than the average, just different topics.

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#258
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disabling the antennas is the only way to be sure. There will typically be a coax connection that you can cap with a terminator. GPS can be merged with other radios you might not want to lose but suitable splitters are available.

GPS uses a different frequency and a very weak signal. The antenna is typically separate from the others but it's very small 1. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/gnss-chip-antenna-hooku...

Ford has GPS with FM on the same cable. They have splitters for this arrangement. This is why they transitioned to stubby antennas for better GPS and good enough FM.

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#259

I'd like to point out that the CA assembly has passed AB-1542 and it is likely going to be signed by the governor this week. This would make the sale and sharing of "sensitive" personal information illegal, and one of the sensitive personal categories is geolocation data that can map an individual to within a 1850-ft radius. In my understanding, this pretty much makes this type of driver data illegal to sell or share…

Well they'll still sell the data but "anonymised" like with phone location data. Better, but not fixed.

Not true. If they do that they are violating the law and that will show up in the audits. They have to delete the data, all records associated with that identifier, now including any 3rd party data that they bought from other brokers and did not collect or buy originally. There have been many loopholes for years but they are all being closed.

Re: Data collected by cars and sold to third parties

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like this is not enough: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/simpler-solution-for-dis... The most reliable way to permanently silence the cellular modem is to pull the relevant fuse. In the above case, this also disables the microphone, which I think is a positive. Unplugging the DCM entirely, however, seems to disable to right speaker, which is wired through the DCM for some reason.

>Unplugging the DCM entirely, however, seems to disable to right speaker, which is wired through the DCM for some reason. I'm cynical, but unnecessarily coupling the ability to send telemetry with some feature people definitely want seems like exactly the sort of thing that would be done intentionally.

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