I wanted to get others’ takes but it seems like the only real way to get a non-spying car is to get an older car without any sort of telemetrics. I saw a video about different car companies’ security policies, well specifically the new Mental Outlaw video, and it just blew me away how even our cars aren’t safe. Anyone got tips for how to anonymize their car?
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Are there any write-ups on the situation in Europe under GDPR-legislation? Mostly I read about the US-situation which seems like the wild west, but I can’t imagine that it is perfectly fine in the EU either even if you opt-out of using their apps etc.
I have a 06 jeep wrangler, used to do 20 mpg but gets more around 15-17 now, which I plan on making some efficiency improvements. But its a pretty reliable engine and I live in a rural area so having an all terrain vehicle gives me some piece of mind.
If your planning on getting an older vehicle, do some preventative maintenance such as a new battery, make sure amps are equal or greater. Change the oil if it hasn’t been done. Get new belts. Get new spark plugs. Get a decent set of tires. Use fuel system cleaner.
If you plan on getting a newer vehicle you could probably pull a fuse to disable it from transmitting, but I don’t know if it would actually work.
ITT people are all dismissive because you can’t actually be anonymous on the road (license plates, speed cameras…), but, honestly, I just want a car that doesn’t listen in on my conversations, sell my data to brokers, require any passanger to accept the privacy policy, or record the times I have sex (jk it won’t be able to if I don’t have any)
DIY ?
Now just hope the batteries don’t have a radio.
I plan to buy 2003 Skoda Octavia for obvious reasons or some car with automatic transmission.
My car is built in 2003 and I don’t think I’m ever moving it on.
It peaked in 2005 before the driver inputs got overrides and and speed outputs started lying to you.
I couldn’t even imagine a car connected to the internet.
My cousin still drives her 2003 Octavia and it’s still in great shape. Diesel, manual and four wheel drive. Amazing car!
Holding onto my 2016 van with zero telemetry for as long as possible.
It’s possible to get cars as new as 2019 where you can just pull a fuse. But it starts to get tricky.
Example my C7 Vette it only took about that (it was a bit of an ordeal to not brick the car) but it’s not connected to shit anymore.
Telemetry data will still be saved in the car systems, but not broadcast anywhere. So not too bad
Right to repair must apply to cars as well.
Buy an electric bicycle and use the money you would have spent on a car to run for a seat for local office on the platform to improve local transit infrastructure
How good are they in ice and snow? Probably a bit dangerous and cold I’d think.
Yes buy studded tires will help a lot
I did all my transportation and shopping with a mountain bike for a year and it’s kind of difficult on snow and ice, fell over some. The trick is to never turn at all when on that stuff, but it’s still hard. The cold makes the oil for the mechanisms work worse too, you need special oil. My hands got very cold holding on to the handlebars, you need to find some balance between gloves that hold warmth and resist the wind and gloves that let you have enough dexterity for the brakes and shifters.
Bike poggies are worth looking into to keep your hands warm. Studded tires can help with slipping too
I live in the nordics, while you can get chain lubes meant for extreme cold, negative twenties to thirties should be fine to ride using any lube.
Internal bearing lubrication is not a concern, same for shifters and brakes. Hydraulic breaks are not a concern, provided there is no moisture in the system.
Gloves are a must, of course, but I’ve several sets for a range temperatures, you can do just fine all the way up to pretty thick finger gloves. Some people here like to use three finger gloves to let some of their fingers buddy up.
Studded tires also make a huge difference. I can ride without them, but studs basically eliminate the most common way to fall without seeing it coming, your tires just sliding out from under you on smooth ice.
Though it doesn’t help on loose snow thick enough the tire won’t sink through to contact the ground. For that you need width and tons of tread.
These things can be found for cheaper as off brand, but you get the idea.
There are studded tires you can get for ice but I’m not certain about their application on electric bikes.
The problem with that though is they aren’t legal everywhere. I know where I’m at we can’t have studded tires.
Bicycles can’t or vehicles can’t? There’s a vast difference in weight and I imagine most wouldn’t even notice.
I know you can’t on a motorcycle so I’d assume you can’t on an ebike as well.
I don’t live in the snow so never tried in real life, but local laws usually classify different levels of two wheeled vehicles. Some laws treat level 2 and under, where most e-bikes are, the same as bicycles. Mopeds and motor-driven cycles are a level above that are allowed on surface streets the same as cars but too underpowered for the highway. Then the level above that is the traditional motorcycle that are allowed on streets and highways.
tl;dr, it might be allowed for e-bikes to have studded tires depending on how local laws classify it.
Definitely keeping me far away from upgrading, newest vehicle is an early 2000s Corolla and still does 40mpg.
Honestly with how cheap and easy it is to fix at home, barring safety improvements I really don’t see a point in upgrading. Infotainment is just another component that will eventually go obsolete like the ones from ~2010 that are dog slow and a pain to go aftermarket on.
Yeah, this is something always in the back of my mind. There’s no way I could replace the one in my car without serious modification. There’s a bunch of shit integrated into it (heat/air controls, safety feature toggles, etc.) and it takes up the entire center of the dashboard.
Another awful “innovation”. The screen in my 2016 van just does maps, music, and radio. I can swap it out no issue if I want (but I don’t want android auto so I don’t). The climate controls are still physical knobs thank god.
Should be quite easy to remove any WiFi/cellular/satellite antennas from the car’s computer. (Might be trace/chip antennas, so make sure to get those). If you’re extra paranoid, get the GPS antenna too, so it can’t simply record data indefinitely.
Might take a few hours to go through the car to make sure you get everything, but you won’t be limited to super old cars.
I don’t believe for a second that the car won’t be sending either an unremovable error message, a constant and un-mute-able audible alarm, or a complete lockout of subsystems or the entire system itself. The best case scenario is that this is a mild inconvenience.
Does your car lock up outside of cell coverage? I’m not suggesting removing the radios themselves, just the antennas. To the car, it will just always be out of range.
The antenna used for talking to the keys might cause trouble, but those are either inherently short range inductive systems or are receivable using a 20$ RTL SDR to verify it’s not sending anything else.
I am a private person. Not because I have something to hide, I just don’t like the idea that my data is being sold which exposes me to various scams. I got to the point where some of my online purchases are marked as fraud due to measures I took - vpn, email alias, delivery to a parcel locker, spoofed phone number, one time cc. But with cars I cannot help myself. I truly enjoy all the “smart” features. Collision detection, ability to press SOS button when I need help, ability to remotely start/stop/lock/unlock/turn on/off ac/etc. I know how privacy invasive those things are but in this case I’ve chosen convince over privacy.
Depending on the car you might be able to physically disable telemetry. Here are some thoughts/ideas I’ve been collecting:
Quite a few cars also still have a SIM card hidden somewhere, which can be removed. The location of it varies widely though and they’re usually pretty hard to find.
You need a line break between your paragraph and your list.
Depending on the car you might be able to physically disable telemetry. Here are some thoughts/ideas I’ve been collecting:
Oh, it looked Ok in my app (Voyager). But I added the line break.
I don’t recall what kind of car it was, but there was one that saved the phone number associated with any phone that connected via Bluetooth.
While I don’t think it’s likely as a way to trick people to connecting to get their phone number, it was a rental car which opened them up to impersonation scams. Knowing they just rented from the company and where in the city provides quite a bit of information on you.
Android has the ability to deny this information. If iOS has one it does jack shit because Apple doesn’t care about your privacy.
Mozilla Foundation did a deep dive into this. And the results where abysmal. The only brands not completely horrifying where Renault/Dacia because they are European and only serve the European market so they have to follow GDPR.
Nice to know
Wait, Renault doesn’t ship anything outside the EU?
They used to but stopped AFAIK. I am not completely sure but that’s what I read when the Mozilla Foundation report came out. The other reply said to India so maybe my information is not completely accurate…
It does, to India.
Let me try this comment again.
There is no driving with privacy or anonymity unless you’re on private land.
Remove the license plate. You will rarely have privacy driving a car on a public road. You should disable the modem, of course, but you’re still not going to be driving anonymously or privately. Automated license plate readers means your travels are going into databases that very well could be breached at some point in time.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/automatic-license-plate-readers-legal-status-and-policy-recommendations
I don’t entirely agree with this: I know there are no ANPR cameras within my town for example. There’s a speed camera that only takes photos if you’re speeding, but ANPR cameras are limited to motorways and trunk roads, I can move around my town and the surrounding ones without clocking ANPR. Of course I’m still on regular CCTV and cell towers triangulate my phone, but that requires authorities actively looking into me which I doubt they are.
I tend to use an eBike where possible but again the phone triangulates if I have it on me, and it wouldn’t be too hard to follow on cctv if you really wanted to. Everyone and their mother has a doorbell camera now
The fact that your data is exposed to someone doesn’t mean that you have to give up and just let everyone else have it as well.
That’s not the point I’m making. You should disable your cars modem if it has one, but you still should have no expectation of privacy. Thinking you can have anonymity with a license plate displayed to everyone is foolish. It’s like asking how to be anonymous while wearing a name tag and the same clothes every day.
Yea, that part is true.
Adding to this, automatic plate flippers exist and are pretty popular for show cars to display something else when parked. Typically wired to ignition so it shows your plate only when the cars running.
Issue is if you street park dependent on the state, if the vehicle registration is hidden by the plate being flipped they can likely tow it. Would work great for at work/in your driveway though. Could maybe just have a bypass switch for if you need to park somewhere and display the plate.
Still a pain in the ass that it’s this bad though.
Theyre also recording the make model car type car size etc so you’re still not immune from fingerprinting