this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
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Toyota, Progressive Insurance, and a data analytics firm are now being accused of collecting detailed personal driving information without proper consent

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[–] itistime@infosec.pub 10 points 11 hours ago

These behaviors will only get worse, unless we change the system. We just need to help each other understand that, and then execute it!

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 35 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Honestly if a car has any form of internet connectivity built in, it should raise so many red flags before you even sit down to talk financing.

[–] kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

Good luck finding a modern car that doesn't, I just yank out the power to the modem

[–] maximumbird@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I wouldn't mind doing this on my vehicle. Elaborate?

[–] kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 hours ago

Searching for your car model + 'disable modem', 'remove cellular', 'physically remove 5g', etc. Will often come up with guides for specific vehicles.

In my car, it's just a separate board you can just unplug.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 4 points 18 hours ago

my rates do seem high. I had a wreck a few years back but it was a dented door and fixed just fine. I work from home so I dont drive all that much, and the car is cheap. But it does have telemetry. I wonder if I should just bridge a resistor across the onstar antenna terminals

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago

My '24 Civic has no connectivity but bluetooth. I don't know about the 25s.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 9 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

So, OnStar, for decades now, has had cellular activity whether you were paying for it or not. They just used to be careful about not selling data. But even if the user didn't pay and the manufacturer didn't sell, those models are trackable by ISP.

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[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 37 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What amazes me is how many people not only willingly giving up their privacy without any understand of what it means to do so or the implications of it, but also so many have a defense of 'if you are in public you have no right or expectation of privacy at all'.

This is bullshit. While you have a reduced expectation of privacy by virtue of being in public, the fact that your movements are alp documented so completely either by private or public entities without warrants, your face and expressions and dress scanned, and even videos you watch on your phone based on some flock cameras I have seen is an outrage.

People have a right to sometimes just go out and disappear for a while. I used to do it all the damn as a teenager and very young adult. I didnt run away from home or skip school, but I needed genuine alone time to think and let my mind and body feel free for a moment and give myself a minor mental reset. This is impossible if I am on camera all the damn time. The last thing I want is to take a walk through some artsy parts of town or a park and then get ads on 'want to escape? Here are some nice vacation spots to go to', or get ads on shit just because I did some window shopping or in-store browsing.

And then there is this shit. How all that spying affects you financially and maybe even professionally as AI now is reviewing CVs and you better damn well believe that they will be integrating all information on you if you apply anywhere.

And for the 'this prevents crime' shit no it does not. Crime resolution rates have been dropping throughout even the wealthiest most surveillance heavy countries. A study from around 20 years ago in the UK showed thay the places with the most cameras don't have less crime or more solved crimes than those with less cameras. More funding for police and more police tools have ironically lead to a massive reduction in murder rate resolution in the US and elsewhere. Which is surprising snd terrifying... because just how many innocent people have been put in prison in the past without anyone knowing?

It is entirely about social control. Have you ever wondered why protests seem to be less effective and there aren't that many revolutions or successful coups as there were last century? That is why. (And yes I am aware they still happen, but they are much harder to pull off)

[–] OshagHennessey@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The best example I've heard is, if I wait outside your house and follow you around everywhere you go, every single time you leave the house, even though you're "in public," that's still a crime and it's called "stalking."

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 9 points 23 hours ago

Even searching for someone obsessively online and being a little TOO interested in them online is cyberstalking.

The line there is different than in off-line settings, but it does exist. Someone who is a fan of an entertainer and likes all of their online posts is one thing, but a person who has plans that involve harassment is something else.

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[–] thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

Spyware in our cars? This is unacceptable.

YEAR OF THE LINUX CAR

2036 maybe

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 7 points 21 hours ago

There's probably already 10-15 linux computers in your car.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Teslas run on the linux kernel lol..

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[–] DegenerationIP@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

But can I choose the distro?

[–] thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 21 hours ago

i use carch btw

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My car drives Arch, by the way.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 93 points 1 day ago (14 children)

Time to make data sharing illegal. If it is technically needed, the industry needs to have a written contract with the user, which describes in detail which data is shared. It must be a separate contract from anything else, and one each for each industry partner.

[–] bampop@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

"T&Cs update : please agree to 80 pages of impenetrable legal jargon before you can continue to use your vehicle"

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago

That's why I say it must be a written, separate contract. And not signing it must be without consequences regarding other contractual obligations.

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There won't just be an "AI" bubble burst if this surveillance tech bros crap goes on for too much longer. Everyone wants to be an overlord. No one just wants to make a reasonable healthy profit anymore.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 8 points 23 hours ago

It's because high constant profits were never sustainable. Perpetually maximizing GDP in the short term was never a good idea to begin with. But that's the macroeconomic policy.

We've been preventing all forest fires at all costs and guess what - there's still gonna be a big forest fire.

[–] architect@thelemmy.club 2 points 17 hours ago

Yes they do. The issue is that people won’t really tell each other about products and business that are doing that. They won’t boycott the bad shit, either. That goes for everyone… BMW, IBM, and BOSS are still around and that’s the tip of the list.

In order to get seen you got to pay those people that want to be an overlord.

So you see the issue.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (3 children)

Another reminder why I chose to own a bicycle.

I used to dream to have a car, but the more I grew up, the more I realize just how fucking hard it is to have one, especially paperwork and driving demands more situational awareness, of not just the space around the car but also other vehicles on the road.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 38 points 1 day ago (13 children)

Not an option for many of us. Even in the city, where I've gotten around on bicycle for years and years with no car before, it was a hostile environment, and motorists hate bicyclists with a passion. I didn't ride in the street either like in the lane holding up traffic either. But many would go out of their way to hit you, including police. I was too quick for them though.

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[–] OmegaPerseidTwitch@piefed.social 147 points 1 day ago (21 children)

When do companies ask for consent? Look at Google and incognito mode. Look at 23&me, I can go on. And nobody sees anything done about it. We are numbers. Not people. That's our world

[–] PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

Funny that 23andMe is the Google founders wife’s company.

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[–] manxu@piefed.social 55 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Maybe it's time to create some rules about data brokering? It's not really about tracking and consent, it's about who can sell what data about whom to what parties.

It's become an enormous business, it deals with you and I, it delights in living in the shadows, and it is almost completely unregulated. I don't really care if Toyota records my data, I care that it's allowed to sell it or share it.

I think a reasonable first step would be that all data about a specific person belongs to that person and nobody else. We have rules about photos, we need to expand them to data brokering, because the problem is the same: if you can be identified and placed, you are at risk.

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[–] fort_burp@feddit.nl 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Can't you rip out the wifi radio, or cover it in aluminum foil or something? This is ridiculous.

[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

TCU is what we are looking for here, in modern automotive terms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telematic_control_unit

This is the spyware box in most modern vehicles. Can you find it? Can you unplug it? What happens when you disconnect it from the computer bus of the car? Those are the questions we need answered for every car on the road, for our mutual benefit.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Manufacturers will certainly argue that voids the warranty. They might even win that fight in court these days.

[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

I don't give a fuck, I will do it anyway. I do what I want with what I own.

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Chew through the wires and tell them it was a rat

[–] TBi@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Plus they can pull the data if you bring it for service.

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[–] prex@aussie.zone 73 points 1 day ago (10 children)

The Mozilla foundation did a great report on cars & privacy.

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[–] FE80@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Anyone know any good reference projects for building a ras pi based car stereo replacement?

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 9 points 21 hours ago

You could, but you're better off just making an insert for a tablet. It has music, GPS, cell service optional, easily replacable.

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