We all know automakers want to keep tabs on their cars. Stolen vehicle tracking? Sure. Fleet management? Fine. Microphone eavesdropping to serve more ads? Hate it, but OK, that’s a thing. Hold onto your tin-foil hats: Ford just filed a patent for something that takes vehicle tracking into full-blown Twilight Zone territory. Always-On Tracking… In Your Car, or Somebody Else’s.
The car listening to everything you say is absolutely not ok.
I get that’s not what this article is about, but I hate how they’re getting creepier and creepier things normalized.
I’ve thought of creating a tracking-free app for modern cars that would be vendor agnostic so if your family has 2 or 3 cars from different manufacturers, it’d still be the same app instead of 3. But even if I do no tracking, the car company will still track the vehicle, they only lose out on the data from your phone, which likely isn’t nearly as interesting for them anyways.
That article was what gave me the idea to search the patent database. All sorts of creepy shit in the pipeline. Stay tuned.
Some fun stuff, automatic dog treat dispensers and stuff, but mostly appalling violations of your privacy. Welcome to the future, where Dearborn is always watching.
If you’re aiming towards fully autonomous vehicles, having the vehicles know precisely where they are, as well as the knowing where the vehicles around them are, is key to avoiding accidents as well as for more efficient traffic flow.
Not saying the aren’t privacy concerns and all that goes along with it. Just pointing out that there are some legitimate cases that rely on the same technology backbone.
I’ve spent some time noodling on that exact question.
It’d be great if we had a better functioning civil society, where the government and the 4th estate could insist on basic protections for citizens, and the corporations would be steered away from the worst profit-seeking excesses that they’ll get into without the extra guidance.
What do I know, though? I’m a comedian ;) 100% agree with you that there is a happy middle ground between new tech and privacy/civil liberties, but I’m doubtful that I’ll ever personally set foot on it with the way things are trending.
Until the brave masses start slaughtering the “elite” we’re doomed to plod through the current status quo, which, to paraphrase Dr. Horrible, is absolutely NOT quo.
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Right, there are legitimate cases for this. The argument, though, is that these companies are not to be trusted.
I bought a new Toyota recently, and know from others that their app has some car tracking built in to it, where once you connect the app to the car you can see info on trips and gas mileage and such. When I bought mine, though, I carefully read all the T&Cs, and specifically declined the one that said it would sell my driving data to third parties. Guess what? I don’t see that historical data. A minor inconvenience, but it lets you know who they consider their real customers to be.
If you own a car made after like 2012, look into disabling the DCM/telematics system for your model. Pull the fuse, or unplug the cables, or straight up remove all the hardware. Its not a perfect and comprehensive solution but it’s something.
Wish I could figure out how to do that in my 2020 Pacifica. That fucker has pop up weather alerts that never stop. Idk why the car thinks it needs to tell me the weather. I am driving maybe I am driving away from that. Or you know I ALREADY know the weather because I use a phone. My car has no business having a pop up with the weather.
I am absolutely furious to find out that you can totally turn off those alerts… by calling a literal phone number. You call Sirius FM, and they deactivate it, I guess it’s a free trial or some BS.
Comment #15 from Kailua Coach seems to do what you want done, what a shitheaded design:
https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/turn-off-weather-alerts.37618/
Nope, did that. Even went as far as demanding my radio be deleted from their system. As we have no gdpr protections and I am not in California they refuse to delete it. And they continue to send the weather alerts.
Fuuuuck!!!
Unethical pro life tip… it’s not like they KNOW you’re not a European. Hit them with the GDPR request anyhow. ThePantser sounds close enough to DerPanzer. Worth a shot, what do I know, tho
They know you’re not a European. You bought and drive the car in America and presumably park it in America at night. It’s not like they don’t know where it goes.
In the “News of the Strange,” we do have Europeans in the USA :) Being located in the USA is not a universal guarantee that you are not eligible for GDPR protections.
If you’re European but residing in America long term, using American companies from on American soil are you still subject to European GDPR protections? I don’t actually know, I could understand an argument being made either way I think. I guess if you’re an active European citizen you got me there, but I don’t think many of those are here in America buying new cars are they?
Also, I needed an ID and credit card to buy a car… The dealer definitely knew who I was. I don’t know if you can just buy those cash anymore.
I could also just be wrong on all counts, but I think a car dealership has many ways to ensure whether or not you are subject to GDPR protections. Faking it probably isn’t going to get you very far.
Smart.
I think that’s why Ford is patenting this specific tech. It prevents you from being able to turn off the tracking, by leveraging every Ford that has NOT turned off tracking to spot the vehicle that is “running dark.”
I probably will at some point, but right now the convenience of starting my car from my phone is too high.
Or drive a rust bucket
That’s how you catch the Joker.
I hate that Batman predicted this.
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