They have their own cellular modems
Comment on Toyota cars collecting and potentially sharing location data and personal information, Choice says
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Can they share personal information if you don’t connect to Android Auto?
BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 8 months ago
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I understand that they can share my location, but what personal information will they share? Are they photographing me inside my car? Are they recording me and sending it to the company? How do they know who my grandmother is unless I said her name out loud?
icedterminal@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Whenever you connect your phone to any car with a handsfree system, you have the option to allow it to access and store your contacts, phone call log, and text messages. If you install the companion app should your car have remote features, this app can collect even more data this way. If you say “call grandma” to handsfree or select her via the infotainment system, the car knows this and the manufacturer does too. The manufacturer can then save her number according to their policy and locate her. As a company they can perform a data sale/trade with their third parties and find out her real name if you don’t have it saved (Yes this is how companies have profiles on you even if you never used them.) Depending on the manufacturer, yes your car does actively send recordings back to the manufacturer from the microphone built in the cabin.
odium@programming.dev 8 months ago
As the other comment says, they can do a lot more than just location.
But even with just location, they can figure out where you work, what stores you visit, what protests you attend, what hobbies you have, who your friends and family are, and so much more. If you regularly drive someone else in your car, a child for example, they’ll also know all these things about them too.
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I suppose they could mine data about the vicinity of the machine to find out more, but how would they know the specific child with me in the car?
LWD@lemm.ee 8 months ago
How do they know who my grandmother is unless I said her name out loud?
Aside from everything else, you’re describing a world where you don’t feel safe in your own car
bitwolf@lemmy.one 1 month ago
Verify that your device does not share your contact book and texts over bluetooth (will break the infotainment built in “call X person” feature should you use that over your phones assistant for some reason)
Its usually in the bluetooth settings for a particular device paired to your phone
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I use an MP3 player to play music in a car and I don’t connect my mobile phone to the car at all.