Your Car Is Spying on You for Insurance Companies (jacobin.com)
from JRepin@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.ml on 21 Mar 2024 18:30
https://lemmy.ml/post/13473399

It turns out that the “Internet of Things” is full of automated snoops and spies. Data collection, now integrated into new car designs, is more pervasive than ever and is ushering in a brave new world of surveillance and corporate collusion.

#technology

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n3m37h@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 18:34 next collapse

Mine is a few years too old to do that. Once my car is no longer working I’ll be putting around on my ebike instead

elshandra@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 19:13 next collapse

Your ebike is also spying, probably.

n3m37h@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 19:29 next collapse

I doubt it, where I live I barely get a cell signal

Pablopablavich@sh.itjust.works on 21 Mar 2024 21:19 collapse

I don’t know man, sometimes I can barely hold a YouTube stream on my phone but the ads find a away to come through. lol car and insurance companies would probably go straight to satellite or something if they can resell the info for a dollar over cost.

n3m37h@lemmy.world on 22 Mar 2024 01:51 collapse

Yeah 4k ads and 96p video, the reason why it’s so slow

bobs_monkey@lemm.ee on 21 Mar 2024 21:12 collapse

You’re also not required to get liability insurance on an ebike (for now)

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io on 21 Mar 2024 22:50 collapse

Fuck yeah!

Also, here's shameless plug for !micromobility

givesomefucks@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 18:54 next collapse

She also pointed out that “Between 2019 and 2022, Tesla employees internally circulated intimate footage collected from people’s private cars for their own amusement, according to reports.”

But you can definitely trust Musk to put a chip in your head…

motor_spirit@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 19:25 next collapse

Imagine buying into such an ecosystem that’s embedded in you just to get the email “we’ve changed! Here’s what you should know! Pricing will change from x to y” etc along with all other stupid shit

Gonna be some eternal sunshine type shit with weirdos masturbating to your stream of consciousness (against TOS of course)

SoylentBlake@lemm.ee on 22 Mar 2024 00:24 collapse

Imagine being late in the subscription cost. O_o

JoMiran@lemmy.ml on 21 Mar 2024 19:47 next collapse

My next car will probably be a 1986 Ford Bronco with an EV conversion and zero network connectivity. Just a hunk of 4x4 steel with a ton (literally) of batteries under the hood.

FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works on 21 Mar 2024 19:54 next collapse

Well an EV conversion would be the only way to get one of those out of its own way. There’s a reason OJ’s bronco chase was so slow… My ex insisted we get a mid 80’s bronco, and it was so bad. I think it averaged about 6mpg and good god it was laughably anemic. If it was me, I would look for a early 70’s or late 70’s bronco. Totally different styles for each, but still better than the mid 80’s anything.

JudahBenHur@lemm.ee on 21 Mar 2024 21:12 next collapse

My friend rolled one in highschool by taking a turn too hard

SoylentBlake@lemm.ee on 22 Mar 2024 00:27 collapse

The 2-4000lbs that would make up the new floor would def change the handling.

JudahBenHur@lemm.ee on 22 Mar 2024 13:57 collapse

fair point

anachronist@midwest.social on 21 Mar 2024 21:32 collapse

I think OJ single handedly killed the Bronco as a car anyone with self-respect would own.

The image of that white Bronco rolling down the highway in the slow lane with a long procession of cop cars behind in second gear was one of the most iconic images of the 90s. You couldn’t have picked a worse getaway car.

grayman@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 2024 00:13 collapse

Funny they discontinued the Bronco after the associated bad press only to call it’s replacement the Escape!

anachronist@midwest.social on 23 Mar 2024 16:17 collapse

I guess they decided to lean into it.

firefly@neon.nightbulb.net on 21 Mar 2024 22:09 next collapse

Have you considered the International Harvester Scout?

JoMiran@lemmy.ml on 22 Mar 2024 02:21 collapse

The mid-80’s Bronco is just for sentimentality. It was a piece of shit but given that little of the original’s powertrain survives the conversion, I don’t mind. My second option is a Range Rover from the same era. There I would also replace the electronics.

firefly@neon.nightbulb.net on 22 Mar 2024 13:04 collapse

What about the Unimog? That's a bog hopper mobile.

Salvo@aussie.zone on 22 Mar 2024 00:29 next collapse

Dragging around a Ton of extra weight for no reason kinda defeats the purpose of going electric. Actually, dragging around the extra ton in the Broncos body kinda defeats the purpose of going electric too.

Just catch a bus!

frogmint@beehaw.org on 26 Mar 2024 16:53 collapse

for no reason

for to drive

Salvo@aussie.zone on 26 Mar 2024 19:23 collapse

“Real drivers” prefer lightweight cars that are more responsive and can corner, take off and stop on a dime.

Track racing, off-road racing and even Motorkhana and technical rock-crawling is more fun in a vehicle that is the bare minimum.

The only reason any driver would want something with superfluous extra weight is in Monster Trucks for stability, and then only if they are a shit driver.

Even Tractor pulls (where the object is to pull a heavy weight) need the right balance of power:weight and ballast to have sufficient traction to offset the dead weight of the load.

duncesplayed@lemmy.one on 22 Mar 2024 03:45 collapse

Sure! We can insure that for you! Oh we just noticed that our InsureLink service isn’t connecting to your car. So I’ll just need you to sign this waiver saying that you’re declining the InsureLink Safety discount. Just sign right here. It’s just saying that we cannot offer you all of our insurance services, just like if you get in an accident or something and we can’t remotely verify what you were doing at the time, we can’t help you. Great! And without the Safety discount your premiums will go up by only 372.50 a month.

scytale@lemm.ee on 21 Mar 2024 19:58 next collapse

In the US, your car manufacturer might have a Do Not Sell My Information request form on their website. Not sure how effective it is, but it’s worth trying.

50MYT@aussie.zone on 21 Mar 2024 20:24 collapse

That’s the thing that’s funny about this.

Some auto brands would ignore it, and some might actually take these requests seriously due to the legal ramifications if they don’t.

Rolder@reddthat.com on 21 Mar 2024 21:55 collapse

Even if they ignored it, how would you know?

satanmat@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 21:53 next collapse

What will be interesting is what the reaction will be when geeks figure out how to firewall their cars.

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io on 21 Mar 2024 22:47 next collapse

Just uh, ride a bike (or buy an old car I guess, but bikes are more fun and good exercise)

hightrix@lemmy.world on 21 Mar 2024 23:54 collapse

Definitely a good idea if you are able. For people that have long commutes requiring driving on a freeway, it is probably not an option.

Bikes are great! I ride mine as often as possible, but many trips are not possible with bikes, in the US.

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io on 22 Mar 2024 01:44 next collapse

There are places in the US where you can if you're lucky enough to move there and/or live close to work, but yeah, it's a struggle for Americans to safely bike commute almost everywhere.

Venator@lemmy.nz on 22 Mar 2024 22:05 collapse

Just move to a townhouse closer to your job… Oh wait… They tore them all down to build freeways and then made it illegal to build new ones…

where_am_i@sh.itjust.works on 21 Mar 2024 23:42 collapse

Please disable your firewall to be able to access the car steering features.

satanmat@lemmy.world on 22 Mar 2024 02:31 collapse

🤣🤣

This is the most ridiculous, pathetic, dumb, greedy, asshole thing I can totally imagine big auto doing.

Yep. 💯% if they would offer subscriptions for heated seats; you’re god damn right they would do some shit like this.

Zink@programming.dev on 22 Mar 2024 03:13 collapse

And with steer by wire like in the cybertruck, they could fully disable it.

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io on 21 Mar 2024 22:47 next collapse

It can't spy on me if it doesn't exist.

Salvo@aussie.zone on 22 Mar 2024 00:25 next collapse

In related news, the DoJ are suing Apple because car manufacturers can’t extract Tracking data out of people’s iPhones.

anachronist@midwest.social on 22 Mar 2024 02:17 collapse

This isn’t even remotely true. This is specifically what the DOJ is suing over: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39780312

Salvo@aussie.zone on 23 Mar 2024 02:30 collapse

CarPlay access is also included in the Lawsuit.

theverge.com/…/apple-carplay-doj-lawsuit-anticomp…

GM are discontinuing CarPlay integration because they couldn’t reach an agreement with Apple over user data.

arstechnica.com/…/gm-confirms-its-dropping-apple-…

GM have been busted selling OnStar data to insurance companies for money.

www.nytimes.com/…/gm-onstar-driver-data.html

Tracking individuals and selling their data is very lucrative and Automotive Manufacturers are trying to find income streams to subsidise EV sales. Apple and (to a lesser extent) Google have been protecting users data.

Porsche recently allowed Android Auto on their CarPlay-compatible headunits after negotiating with Google over owners privacy concerns.

nothingcorporate@lemmy.world on 22 Mar 2024 04:11 next collapse

Joke’s on them. I can’t afford to replace my 20 year old car because everything is completely unaffordable in this hellscape

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 22 Mar 2024 14:51 collapse

Good news! They’ve been spying on you for well over 20 years at this point.

beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org on 25 Mar 2024 05:31 collapse

My 25-year-old car is certainly not transmitting anything.

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world on 25 Mar 2024 15:23 collapse

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnStar

Onstar has existed since 1996. Cars have been doing this for a long time and it’s not new.

beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org on 25 Mar 2024 19:05 collapse

I’m sure it was possible, but I’m also sure my car doesn’t do that.

ObsidianZed@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 2024 16:25 next collapse

When can we start open sourcing cars?

GooseFinger@lemmy.world on 23 Mar 2024 18:03 collapse

There’s gotta be a way to disable telemetry. My first thought is to cut whatever antenna is used to transmit your data to the corporation. It could be the same antenna used for radio, but I’d go without radio in a heartbeat if it meant Ford, Chevy, or whoever can’t spy on me in a car I paid $15,000+ for.

Of course, we shouldn’t have to do this. My first choice is to not give any of these car companies a dime of my money, but literally every single brand is doing it. This disgusting trend of spying on people should be illegal. It’s rapist behavior.