Bonum Certa Men Certa

Today's Cars Have a 'Privacy Tax'

Tax or Taxi (can be hitched anonymously)

Is this you? Yes. Why no 'app'? I value my privacy. Want a discount? Naaa... But I'll pay you! Whatever.



Summary: The lustre or the appeal associated with driving is mostly gone for those who value their human rights and general dignity; like those proctoring malware things (spying on people who take exams inside their own homes), many cars nowadays spy a lot on drivers and passengers

THERE'S a plethora of different issues related to cars which we've covered here before, e.g.:



Today we'd like to deal with privacy aspects or, contrariwise/conversely, mass surveillance. It's getting worse all the time and it has been getting worse for years. I stopped driving quite some time ago, so I mostly lost touch with the changes and I mostly rely on what friends tell me and show me.

The first reference above is only days old. It mostly dealt with drivers' loss of control over the car they claim to "own", among other aspects like planned obsolescence (it's always a lot faster with high-tech stuff). The appeal of modern cars usually boils down to superficialities and gimmicks. We said we'd follow up with another article, especially regarding privacy aspects of technology inside cars. It's a very broad subject and not one I'm proficient enough to write about based on personal experience. So I spoke to Ryan, who explained the situation in the United States. It sounds like it has gotten a lot worse there than it currently is in the United Kingdom, based on conversations and observations.

Ryan said "there's the insurance devices/apps that spy on you promising discounts and then that can backfire horribly. They say in the tiny print you may save 10%, or you may pay 26% more. That's kind of a 'You have more to lose than they do.' proposition."

While the spying inside cars might not be absolutely obligatory (for now), people get discounts to be spied on or, conversely, they rip people off for not installing and carrying around malware inside the car. "I just don't believe my privacy is worth a 10% discount on some car insurance that probably costs me $900 a year," Ryan said. "But, in fact, it won't even be that."

"10% is the most you can save. And you may pay a LOT more than if you'd never signed up," he added. "Put otherwise, "You might save up to $90, or you may pay up to $260 more per year if you put this device on your car, but either way you tell us all sorts of things about you.". With Root it's an app, with Progressive or Geico it's either an app or a device plugged into the vehicle diagnostic port that you send back to them when they're done. They say it goes for a test period, which is certainly true if you don't have the device anymore, but with an app....who really knows?"

I asked Ryan if people get penalised for turning it off. "With MetroMile," he responded, "you pay by the mile, and you pay the maximum daily rate of 300 miles each day it's not plugged in. And you have to leave it plugged in permanently with MetroMile, but they say if a mechanic or a smog testing site takes it out for a few hours, you're fine. Just make sure to get it back and plug it in again.

I then asked, "how do they know you drive without it?"

"The OBD II port maintains power to the device," he responded. "It wakes up and talks to them over the cell network every so often and then goes back to sleep. So it's plugged into your car and it's hooked up to the cell network. It has an LTE modem in each unit. If you cancel your policy they send you a device return kit, postage paid, and you get 30 days to get it back, or pay a $150 penalty."

Regarding the passage of data about drivers and passengers, there are many ethical issues and it is assured to worsen over time because they collect/retain tons of data for decades. Ryan said, "at the time I used it, their privacy policy said that they didn't sell your data to others, but privacy policies change all the time, and most include a clause that they either don't have to inform you and that by continuing to use it under a revision to the policy you agree to the new one. Or they'll slip you a notification like Comcast did this month. 'Hey, we're putting in a forced arbitration clause on all our customers, and if you use Comcast past July 3rd, you agree.' Unless you're constantly paying attention for subtle changes to privacy policies for everything you use, a lot of the time you'll miss important changes which are not good for you. Microsoft does this."

There are also unintended or unforeseen threats.

"There was an article about buying a used 2007 Chevy truck and yanking out a hard drive and finding out tons of info about the previous owner that wasn't wiped," Ryan concluded. "Vehicles themselves have been doing quite a lot of spying for a while now. The OnStar Button in the 2003 Impala still works. The law requires them to call emergency services if you press it and ask for it. They can still tell where you are."

Recent Techrights' Posts

The "Luddite" Complex
Sometimes simplest is best and sometimes "modern" is designed not with the buyers' interest in mind
SCO's Darl McBride Dead at Age 64
There's hardly any information about it, except we know he reached bankruptcy and 3 years later he died at a relatively young age
[Meme] Python Knows Its Bosses
Microsoft strings attached
[Meme] Debt of About $20 Per Active User
Facebook isn't laying off tens of thousands for "efficiency" but for survival
 
Links 02/11/2024: Temu EU Probe and Shorts Trademark
Links for the day
The 'Turning-Free-Code-Proprietary Foundation' (Linux/Microsoft Foundation)
LF will basically become just as sinister as its corporate sponsors
Python Software Foundation is 'Cancel Culture' Rehomed
Python isn't grassroots and it doesn't really tolerate grassroots
DeVault "Closes Down His Mailing Lists Every Time There's a Scandal" and Also Censors Messages
Censorious code hosting platform
What Social Control Media Really Is
Social Control Media, in a nutshell, isn't just bad if its controller is some foreign or hostile nation
Taking Ethics Lectures From Drew
Projection tactics
Links 02/11/2024: Facebook Stock Falls (Soaring Debt), Apple’s Quarterly Profit Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Burnout, Emacs Bookmarks, and Smooth Migration
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 01, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 01, 2024
Facebook's Debt Has Soared to All-Time High of Nearly 50 Billion Dollars
But the corporate media pretends all is well (while mass layoffs continue and slop takes over the social control media)
Geminispace Makes It Past 4,200 Capsules on November 1st
At last!
Links 01/11/2024: Election Interferences by X/Twitter/Musk, Strava as Espionage Tool
Links for the day
The October 2024 Web Server Survey Shows a Further Collapse for Microsoft in the Servers Market
Microsoft experienced the next largest loss of 699,464 sites (-3.45%)
Gemini Links 01/11/2024: TLS Sucks, twytere.com Announced
Links for the day
Links 01/11/2024: Few Things Are Cheaper Than This Antenna and "Nothing Lasts Forever"
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part V
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 31, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, October 31, 2024
R.T.O. is Another Name (or Acronym) for Voluntary Layoffs
Amazon is trying to get many workers to leave on their own
Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision (to Fake Revenue Growth by Buying Revenue) Was a Failure
Of course the mass layoffs at Microsoft aren't just a Microsoft thing
Stagnant, Shrinking Businesses and "IBM's Corporate Culture Since the Late 1980s... Over 35 Years."
Recently, IBM was using share price as a talking point, insisting the company was doing OK while tens of thousands were being laid off
Links 01/11/2024: World News, Political Catchup
Links for the day
[Meme] Probably the Worst Possible Time to Get Information From Social Control Media
Musk does not want to prevent disinformation from spreading and the same is true for Facebook and TikTok; they have their own interests
Update on Litigation Against the European Patent Office (EPO) at the ILO Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT)
Rewards and compensation for staff have long fallen, resulting in many experienced colleagues leaving and causing further declines in quality and compliance
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: NNCP, Declutter the Web, Cost of Community
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Supermicro Plummets 33%, Block and Dropbox Mass Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Environmental Anxiety, Profound Changes in Hardware Market
Links for the day
Links 30/10/2024: TSMC Concerns and North Koreans in Ukraine War
Links for the day
Facebook is for Zombies
Social control media is for fools
Microsoft Now Has $235,290,000,000 in Liabilities, They Grow Over Time in Spite of Mass Layoffs (So Expect More Layoffs)
expect more mass layoffs
Links 31/10/2024: DST Woes, War Updates, Amazon RTO Backlash
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: Attention Economy and Gemlogs
Links for the day
Happy Halloween
October is nearly over
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 30, 2024
For the Record: Linux is Controlled by the United States of America
"This is going to make many question the openness and inclusivity of the work done by Linux Foundation"
Microsoft: XBox Hardware Revenues Down About 30% (Ignore the Buzzwords and Activision Activity Dressed Up as "XBox")
For context, in a previous quarter XBox hardware sales were down by about 50%
Cooking the Books With "Cloud" And "AI" Was Not Enough to Fool Microsoft Investors
"Microsoft Shares Drop on Disappointing Azure Growth Forecast"