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What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

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Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#301

Post by sebstefan »

afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

There should not be an expectation of privacy from the authorities when operating a motor vehicles on public roads on which you need a license to drive

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#302

Post by telgareith »

sebstefan wrote: post #301
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

There should not be an expectation of privacy from the authorities when operating a motor vehicles on public roads on which you need a license to drive

Then leave the US.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#303

Post by brewtide »

rglullis wrote: post #263
KineticLensman wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rural southern England here. Public transport is non existant where I live. You need a car if you want a life. I lost my driving license for medical reasons and have spent two years without driving. I am really conscious of what a car means in terms of having a social life, working, etc. If I was younger, I would have had to relocate

Tell that to the Amish. Car dependency is something that we've learned, not the natural state of things.

Internet dependency is something we've learned, not the natural state of things.

So, try to go about your existence without Internet of any sort and please report back at any difficulties it may cause for you.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#304

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

codingdave wrote: post #298
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not a good idea as the battery weight wouldn't have been figured into the original chassis/brakes design.

Right, you need to do that engineering yourself. And ICE engines are heavy, so it typically is reasonable to work out as the lighter engine compensates for the battery weight. It is a design task, not a project killer.

If modern EVs are anything to go by, the battery weight will be substantially more than the weight of an ICE engine plus gearbox etc. But yes, it'd be for the hobbyist to figure out the details and whether it is safe enough to drive.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#305

Post by Lio »

sebstefan wrote: post #301
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

There should not be an expectation of privacy from the authorities when operating a motor vehicles on public roads on which you need a license to drive

Why do you think you should not have an expectation of privacy when driving?

Do you not consider reasonable to have an expectation of innocence when going about your business?

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#306

Post by op00to »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #35
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

I'm with you here. I have an 89 BMW (which is old enough to have an actual servo motor attached to the intake manifold for cruise control) and an 83 Land Cruiser (whose most advanced feature is that it controls its emissions using vacuum controlled pneumatic circuitry). I'm very glad I've put in the time to learn how to work on cars because I have zero interest in the tech direction of modern vehicles.

I love older cars and drove an early 80s Volvo until 2010 or so, but I also love side impact airbags, antilock brakes, and a car that mostly just “works”.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#307

Post by littlestymaar »

sebstefan wrote: post #301
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

There should not be an expectation of privacy from the authorities when operating a motor vehicles on public roads on which you need a license to drive

We're not talking about monitoring traffic on roads there, but about an embedded spying device that is enabled even when you're in your own garage and is also being used commercially to monetize your private life.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#308

Post by j-bos »

behringer wrote: post #213
maccard wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing that is illegal in many places. Here’s a decent summary in the Uk [0] [0] https://jebaring.co.uk/involuntary-bailee-what-to-do/

It's also just not very nice. It is ok to be nice to people. Do unto others and all that. And before I get called naive, courts do look very favorably upon defendants that are nice.

It's not nice to stick eyeballs under people's vestiments. It's not nice to put hands on a stranger. Bad faith actions can be responded to without malice but there is no need to be nice. Non consentual cameras in a private dwelling are never good faith.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#309

Post by j-bos »

Xenoamorphous wrote: post #53
bean-weevil wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They own the cameras. You can still take them down and give them back if requested.

The thing is, first of all I’m hardly a handyman, I wouldn’t have known where to start. Second, I was dealing with moving to a new place, which can be very stressful (to add to that, my girlfriend was 6 months pregnant and my dad had passed away unexpectedly less than 2 months earlier). And third, I wanted the alarm, just with me in the contract and with the access to the cameras, not the previous owner. I simply cov…

Dude, that sounds stressful, but you seem to be agreeing to live a prisoners life and leaving your family within it. I'm am legitimately sad to hear about your situation.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#310

Post by gcanyon »

Steven Wright: "I have this switch in my house that doesn't seem to do anything. It's in a hallway, so every time I pass it, I flip it: up, down, up, down...up...down. A few months after I got the house, a guy from Indonesia called me on the phone and said...'stop it'"
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