If you have ever felt someone is watching you, it could be your car

[urdrwho]

If you have ever felt someone is watching you, it could be your car. Yesterday before ever seeing this article I turned off the wifi in my car. Not for privacy but I really don't need my car sending me info about my tire PSI and using a $300 car battery to do it. Today I'm going to look at the settings because I think I remember seeing something about sending information to Lincoln. I need to disable that because now that I think about it, what do they need to know?

"According to Mozilla research, popular global brands — including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru — can collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and where you drive. Researchers found data is being gathered by sensors, microphones, cameras, and the phones and devices drivers connect to their cars, as well as by car apps, company websites, dealerships, and vehicle telematics. Brands can then share or sell this data to third parties. Car brands can also take much of this data and use it to develop inferences about a driver’s intelligence, abilities, characteristics, preferences, and more."

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/b...rd-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/

 

[BobsArmory]

Turning wifi off won't do much if there is a SIM card in the vehicle.

 

[thastinger]

Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the agreement and hit "accept"...people trade privacy for convenience all the time.
My BIL has an accident reconstruction company and the amount of information he can pull from a modern vehicle is astounding. If you have voice activation anything inside your vehicle then it listens to every work spoken...because it has to listen to every word waiting to hear your commands.

 

[fantastic]

I've never bought anything that modern, yet, & It'll be a while so maybe they won't need to hear from me when that time comes.

 

[Pablo]

Our cars have BT but not wifi

 

[ATex7239]

Everything is listening/tracking/watching you nowadays. Your phone, your computer, your television, your vehicle, your appliances. You cannot even go for walk around the block without some neighbor’s camera recording as walk by. You can get away from some things, but you can’t get away from everything. If you are viewing this thread right now you are being tracked. Guaranteed.

 

[Pew]

I hope my findings are boring to these companies..."this guy drives slow and toots too much in his car."

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Your car steals your phone data and your phone steals your car date and both sell it to 3rd parties.

 

[Al]

Your being watched with every transaction you make and when you move around the community or country. I tend to think those that worry about the car watching are paranoid. Thats just me.

 

[Dino01]

Joke’s on them, my Mercedes is pre-skynet

 

[Cujet]

My wife and I were talking about acts of war the other day during a long road trip in my 2024 F150. Within seconds the "Alexa" prompt materialized at the top of the screen and a swirling blue circle sat there, letting me know it was listening. We did not say "Hey Alexa" or any other nonsense. Nor did it respond with "sorry, I did not get that", as it normally would if it was trying to respond to us. It listened until we shut up.

I'm sure the AI was seriously impressed with my ideas and will change national policy with regard to what constitutes an Act of War.

I'm about ready to pull the sim card and cap the antenna wires. Maybe install an 8 track tape player, the B+O audio system sounds like junk anyway.

 

[urdrwho]

My wife and I were talking about acts of war the other day during a long road trip in my 2024 F150. Within seconds the "Alexa" prompt materialized at the top of the screen and a swirling blue circle sat there, letting me know it was listening. We did not say "Hey Alexa" or any other nonsense. Nor did it respond with "sorry, I did not get that", as it normally would if it was trying to respond to us. It listened until we shut up.

I'm sure the AI was seriously impressed with my ideas and will change national policy with regard to what constitutes an Act of War.

I'm about ready to pull the sim card and cap the antenna wires. Maybe install an 8 track tape player, the B+O audio system sounds like junk anyway.

Our cars don't have Alexa and I'm not sure I'd want him or her?

 

[Cujet]

Had a discussion about a Merkur XR4ti here on BITOG. I chimed in. Suddenly my Youtube feed is full of videos of that car, and my X (old twitter) feed has people (probably bots) posting stuff about that car. I have zero interest in that old crummy car. My experience with it was terrible.

I'm surprised my F150's display does not show a picture of a Merkur XR4ti, and the F150's 5g Alexa feed does not state "The XR4ti was a car sold by Mercury dealers under the Merkur brand, a division of Ford Motor Company, would you like to know more about the XR4ti?"

 

[Exhaustgases]

If I had a vehicle that did that I'd just disconnect any coax or ? going to the antenna. No antenna no snoopy, also stops telematics.
But then this is the whole reason for all this fancy electronics in vehicles now.

 

[JimPghPA]

Until recently, the saving grace of anti-surveillance has always been the huge number of man-hours involved. Now, with AI becoming more powerful all the time, that limitation is being overcome.

 

[Cujet]

Until recently, the saving grace of anti-surveillance has always been the huge number of man-hours involved. Now, with AI becoming more powerful all the time, that limitation is being overcome.

That is a stunningly good point. I'm 100% sure some AI somewhere has a dossier on me and everything I've said in the vicinity of various microphones.

 

[BobsArmory]

I had a co worker who was super paranoid about smart phones snooping on everyone. He finally had to get a new phone and it was a smart phone. He turn it off and put it in his locker when not in use. Every once in a while when he had it out another co worker would walk up behind him and in a firm loud voice voice say something like "K"LL insert a current presidents name". It would drive him crazy! Even though we joked about it he probably was on some governments watchlist in some database in the middle of a Nevada desert.

 

[WeyounDS9]

Got into an accident? not your fault but you were 5 mph over the limit?
Opposing insurance company can and will, buy this info from your car company to use against you in court.

Perhaps soon to come: Taxing your miles driven, or Tickets in the mail for speeding with your car and phone telling on you.

This is one of the many reasons, why I had the telematics antenna pysically hard disconnected, at a friendly dealer.
My vehicle is now incapable of sending my data to big brother.

Exception: when its in for maintenance at a North american dealer they routinely pull the data off the BCM as well.
Zeroing out the BCM means you have to disconnect the capacitor that is in it and then let it sit at least 3 days to ensure data loss.

Another way to avoid this, BCM data dump, is to avoid the dealerships of one's own brand.

PS: Never ever, plug your phone into your (newer) car via USB to charge it directly.
Yes, that means a hard No to apple carplay or any similar function.
never ever connect your phone to the cr for hands free. the car will download your search history, where your phone has tracked your whereabouts, and nowadays its real easy to do an AI search if you've run afoul of any politcally incorrect norms.

The car also downloads your address list and who you texted with, your smartfone search history (whithin data limits) and stores it in the BCM (body control module).
Use one of the old school cigarette lighter to USB converters, to charge your phone to prevent connectivity.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

If my vehicle or the "smart tv" ever hears me and my buddies talking , NSA would likely show up and haul us off in chains even though it just some grumpy old men talking about all the ills of the planet.

 

[goblin]

...can collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity... ... ... ...and genetic information

I shiver at the thought of what exactly sensors they'll need all over the cabin to cross-reference those two

Then again, I keep explaining that there has NOT been a stage of Humanity's development and evolution at which we have NOT been tracked.

Those who have NOT had their parents glance at a car that has been meticulously sanitized for hours, then point at the two styletto imprints in the headliner within the first three tenths of a second, will not understand.