this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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Privacy

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New research reveals serious privacy flaws in the data practices of new internet connected cars in Australia. It’s yet another reason why we need urgent reform of privacy laws.

Modern cars are increasingly equipped with internet-enabled features. Your “connected car” might automatically detect an accident and call emergency services, or send a notification if a child is left in the back seat.

But connected cars are also sophisticated surveillance devices. The data they collect can create a highly revealing picture of each driver. If this data is misused, it can result in privacy and security threats.

A report published today analysed the privacy terms from 15 of the most popular new car brands that sell connected cars in Australia.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Toyota at least has an opt-out website. (Or at least in the US they do). You lose the ability to do stuff like remote start from your phone though. And emergency roadside service, blah blah blah. I turned off all the mapping saved route stuff immediately that let you see your previous trip average miles/KW and then turned off everything once they wanted me to pay a monthly fee for remote start and such.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Theres still an LTE modem in your car sending data somewhere

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So if I were to take one of them cars and drive out to the middle of nowhere in the desert where there's no cell service, what's it gonna do? Shut off once it's roaming? Not start back up and strand me in 115° heat? I just want to be prepared for my lawsuit that's all

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I seriously doubt they're not capturing the information just because you told them not to. They're just going to treat it differently. But have no delusions that they're respecting your wishes as you think they should.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

https://privacy.toyota.com/#/landing

They appear to be doing so for all states, not just Cali where they have a legal obligation to. Do you have any proof to the contrary or is this just your feeling about it? Because at this point, given the class action lawsuit they would face from Californians, I suspect they are actually following it to the best of their ability.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

What's ridiculous is they made remote start only available from the app instead of a keyfob

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

No shit , this just in said anyone in security.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Is there any open source/privacy focused connected car software?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The problem isn’t e.g. CarPlay, it’s the car itself, which is usually entirely custom.

For example with Infiniti they have their own Android based OS and the only way to get a new head unit in the car is to have a full emulator. Otherwise you lose access to anything that the head unit controls.

I don’t know if open source custom car roms will be a thing until we have an LLM that’s smart enough to automate porting the rom to different models of car.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah OK, so stick with dumb cars for now. Or take public transport and ride your bike because cars just suck in general!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I'm shocked, i tell you, shocked!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I mean if you're mechanically talented enough and sufficiently motivated, you could probably rip out the digital controls and replace them with mechanical analogs, getting rid of the computer entirely. Extremely difficult, but probably doable if you know what you're doing.

That aside, we shouldn't have to do that to get out of being spied on.

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