Submitted 8 hours ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.zip
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260513-your-car-is-spying-on-you-its-about-to-get-worse
From your weight and facial expressions to your destination, cars collect a startling amount of data about you. Some of it may even raise your insurance costs.
I’m unreasonably infuriated by this title format.
My car isn’t spying on me. It doesn’t have any kind of wireless connectivity whatsoever.
My car barely even has a computer
If you bought a Nissan, you’ve given them the right to collect data about your sexual orientation and history. It’s in their privacy policy.
thafuq.
So like, what car do you buy new if you want to mod it to not phone home?
The one you downloaded in the 90s.
As if I needed more reasons to keep repairing my shitbox from 2013. Japanese, no internet connection or infotainment integration. I could take out a 12 month loan for an engine replacement every year and it still wouldn’t cost as much as a car payment + full coverage insurance.
That’s a false equivalency, though, as the former didn’t include matching insurance— nevermind that it’s generally illegal, IIRC, to drive uninsured. 😅☝🏼
The minimum insurance to cover legal requirements (and not damages to your own car) is pretty cheap tbf
Love me some good Beeb coverage, this is great
ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 minutes ago
Mine isn’t. I got a 2023 bolt and immediately upon taking possession, pulled the fuse that runs that shit. I could go behind the screen and remove the onstar module entirely, and I probably will to restore the nav and location-based charging at some point, but not a priority. Pulling the fuse didn’t disable anything I can’t live without, since my old car didn’t even have the stuff that gets disabled.
I don’t use apps on my phone that connect to the car, and haven’t even synced my phone for calls. I have an old android I factory reset and created a local account on, which doesn’t have a sim card, just hotspot from my active phone, and I use that for the EV charge location apps, totally isolated from anything else because they, too, syphon data.
I’d personally never buy a vehicle that couldn’t have all that shit disabled. It may still collect it, but if I cant intercept or prevent transmission of it, I wouldn’t buy the vehicle.
I’m hoping that by the time I need to replace this one, we have at least started to invest in decent public transit that doesn’t take 3-10x as long as driving. It could happen. Else I’ll just never leave home because I won’t buy one.