this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
146 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy Guides

16784 readers
58 users here now

In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.


You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Learn more...


Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!


This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.


Moderation Rules:

  1. We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
  2. This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
  3. No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
  4. Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
  5. Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
  6. Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
  7. News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
  8. Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
  9. No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
  10. No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
  11. Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
  12. General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ANIMATEK@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

GDPR would like to have a word here. Most likely not done in the EU though.

[–] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This, and the other things I read about (like subscriptions for heated seats) are what will lead to some bizarre third party hack market for cars. Instead of taking a new vehicle to a place for custom pinstriping or whatever, folks will get them privatized.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 year ago

Ideally people just don't buy cars that require subscriptions. That's what happened with BMW's terrible subscription model and BMW stopped doing that shit. The only way to make companies stop doing shitty things is to stop giving them money when they do those things.

[–] nothingcorporate@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Lucky for me, I can't afford to replace my 20 year old car anyway.

[–] Toneswirly@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If this is legal, then hacking it to take it out should be legal.

[–] PleasantAura@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, because if every piece of your entire existence isn't dedicated to making profit for the upper class, your life is worthless, and anything that devalues the profit they could make from you is stealing.

To be clear, I'm not saying you're wrong, just expressing frustration at the current state of the world.

[–] Guadin@k.fe.derate.me 12 points 1 year ago

I hate it that they put al the nice features behind data harvesters. Want to have that nice traffic info (a nightmare on it's own, but it is handy)? Share all your data. Want to have Spotify? Share all your data.

[–] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

It's not in the EU

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 5 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


In response to five class-action lawsuits, a Washington appeals court has decided that Honda and several other automakers did nothing wrong by storing text messages and call records from connected smartphones.

Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors were all facing charges in separate but related class-action suits that all claimed they violated Washington state privacy laws.

"To succeed at the pleading stage of a WPA claim, a plaintiff must allege an injury to 'his or her business, his or her person, or his or her reputation,'" the judges ruled.

In other words, it's A-OK for your car to "automatically and without authorization, instantaneously intercept, record, download, store, and [be] capable of transmitting" text messages and call logs since the privacy violation is potential, but the injury not necessarily actual.

Per the first amended complaint [PDF] filed in the Honda case, Honda infotainment systems in vehicles manufactured from 2014 onward "store each intercepted, recorded, and downloaded copy of text messages in non-temporary computer memory in such a manner that the vehicle owner cannot access it or delete it," plaintiffs argued.

Plaintiffs accusing Honda of WPA violations pointed to Maryland-based Berla Corporation, which manufactures equipment "capable of extracting stored text messages from infotainment systems" as a reason for owners to consider the data harvesting a privacy concern.


The original article contains 532 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] JoShmoe@ani.social 4 points 1 year ago

GOP “Show us the text messages!”

[–] apis@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bit behind the times here, but how are cars even accessing this information, unless the phone is built into the car system, and the user has an cellular/data/wi-fi account with the car manufacturer?

[–] neinhorn@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All modern cars have cellular connectivity. The manufacturer pays the monthly fee. Since most cara have gps built in, they always know where you are.

When you connect your phone to the car via bluetooth or usb your phone will trust the car and hand over the data. Want to see that message on the car screen? Well the car manufacturer now has a copy of it. In real time.

[–] apis@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

"When you connect your phone to the car via bluetooth or usb your phone will trust the car and hand over the data."

USB charging I can understand, but seems odd that phones do not block data transfers (besides that needed to manage charging) unless the user explicitly permits it.

I guess people use Bluetooth to connect to car speakers, but again, why are the phones being so permissive with what they send?

[–] Spyder@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Maybe when the car is serviced? After you Bluetooth connect to have hands free calling and music

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Is android auto harvesting data to the car manufacturers, or just the first party replacements?