Mozilla review of 25 car brands finds they're "a privacy nightmare"

Comments

• csolisr@communities.azkware.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The more technology progresses in our ultracapitalist environment (and even some ultrasocialist ones like China), the more people are forced to become Luddite self-sustainable hermits in the middle of nowhere for their own good. It’s not even to not buy a car - even something as simple as taking a bus or a train or even a pair of shoes is poised to become a privacy nightmare sooner or later.

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  • Acters@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Public transit in my area already has cameras with facial recognition and tagging. It’s not even a good public transit system, too.

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• Xianshi@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’d rather they just focused on making the browser better to be honest. Let the EFF or another org do this type of work

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  • 7Sea_Sailor@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The people who researched this topic and wrote that article are most probably not the ones working on the browser. As any company, Mozilla has departments.

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    • Fafner@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bob I’m going to need to look into that codec bug in Firefox. Also, how’s that car review coming along?

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    • Xianshi@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I know I used to develop for it. My point was directed at the funding . The web needs a strong alternative to chrome now more than ever. Neutering projects like servo does not help. Also most non technical people don’t even know of Mozilla and anyone that does probably associates it with Firefox.

      Anyway I’m downvoted for having a valid opinion. Whatever

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  • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Mozilla is a large umbrella foundation that includes the for-profit Mozilla Corporation. The Foundation has always done plenty of work outside of the browser. I do agree that their browser development is having a ton of issues (for example, the lack of development of key features needed for the Android browser to be competitive, like a tablet UI and the slow roll-out of add-ons), but I think those are a result of flawed decision-making in the Corporation which happened independently of anything that the Foundation might be up to.

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• ornery_chemist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Maybe a dumb question, but if all of the vehicle’s bells and whistles are meticulously recording my every move… how do those data get back to the auto manufacturer anyhow? I read the article and the “how that works” link, and sure it mentioned phone connectivity, but if I don’t connect my phone, then my car presumably has no way to communicate what it collects… or are there a bunch of extra radios that phone home (satellite, cellular…)?

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  • Notorious@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Many (if not most) new cars have their own cellular service built in. They spin this as being able to hotspot to your vehicle if you pay for data or being able to remote lock/start your vehicle with their app. However, the vehicle manufacturer has their own plan allowing them to relay back telemetry data regardless of whether you buy a data package.

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    • pyrflie@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      [deleted]

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• AntEater@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The frustrating thing is that there’s no clear way to know exactly how much you’re exposing yourself with this. Even the article (and related links) don’t spell it out adequately (IMO).

  For example, I just purchased a new(ish) 2022 Nissan. I don’t have the Nissan app on my phone and I don’t subscribe to any of their connectivity services. Is my data staying in the car or is it finding some conduit back to Nissan? Is connecting my phone to the console for music and maps opening me up to Nissan’s data collection? Is using bluetooth for music and hand-free calls exposing my data? Is there any way to know the specific avenues for data collection that present a risk and how can they be mitigated?

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  • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    According to their Nissan page, your car seems to not be phoning home if you haven’t opted in. I don’t know if that applies to data they gather when you bought the car, and if you bring it in for service.

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  • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    If you didn’t get the app and don’t have any of their connectivity services, then there’s no privacy issue for you. Nissan isn’t going to pay to maintain millions upon millions of internet accounts just to connect data points on a random person driving their vehicle. They have no data frame on you to identify you, and if you never give it to them, they never will.

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• Sailor_jets@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Boy am I glad trucks are so expensive (and bedless) that I had to get a 2011 GMC Sierra 2500. This old gal doesn’t even have Bluetooth and I have to use an adapter for my jams. I said to myself that this is the last truck I own and now it looks like that’s going to be true.

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• breadsmasher@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I assume this can only be collected when connecting your phone plus the app to the vehicle? You lose a lot of functionality if you don’t, but at least it would keep your data private?

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  • extant@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Most cars have a mobile antenna that connects to a cellular network to send/receive data, they can access it whenever they want but they want you to pay their overhead so they offer the phone app with the remote control options as incentive to cover their costs of collecting your data and as an added bonus to their profit.

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  • GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Many cars connect to the internet via cell, even if the owners didn’t specifically pay for that, and many times it can’t be disabled.

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    • MelodiousFunk@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      When my fiancé was shopping for a car a few years ago, I asked the salesperson "so how do you turn off connectivity?" while they were showing off the whiz-bang infotainment systems. Nobody could answer the question, and most didn't understand why anyone would want to turn it off.

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  • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The phone helps get them more data, but they can gather plenty just from the car and its data connection.

    The really fun question is - if you elect not to pay for the data plan for your car, will they still enable it anyways because they can make more money selling your information than it costs to maintain a cell contract for the vehicle?

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  • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The car can collect data and it can be downloaded when you go to a repair

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• Mr_Buscemi@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Guess I’m happy my Toyota is the last model year that didn’t have a connection to the app that’s got privacy issues.

  Thanks for linking this. Going to share it with some friends.

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• MrBusinessMan@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  If you don’t have anything to hide then you don’t have anything to worry about!

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  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They are making money off me without paying me for it

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    • Banana_man@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I agree with you but look at the dude’s name, they probably are a troll. Regardless, watching the debate between ILikeBoobies and MrBusinessMan, the two sages has been thrilling.

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    • MrBusinessMan@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      So? That’s what businesses are supposed to do. Make money. You should invest in the company and then you’ll make money off of the money they make off you.

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• nao@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Is there any recent car that doesn’t have some sort of privacy settings?

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• Hazdaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The car I put the most miles on (at least during the summer) doesn’t even have an ECU, so yeah you guys can have fun with all that high tech nonsense.

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• doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  My car’s company isn’t on the list, but I can’t imagine they’re any better. My car is a little older, though, so I don’t think it has any way to phone home with any data…

  Do new cars make you sign into your wifi with them or something? Or do they need a data connection? I suppose you could just not connect them, or even modify the hardware so it can’t transmit. There’s a joke here about putting your car into airplane mode, but I can’t find it.

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• AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This is why if I ever own a car, it has to be an old gas runner with the engine/whatever else is needed replaced to make it an EV without all the non-optional spyware. Definitely not something from the past couple decades just to be a little more sure that there is a lower chance of any spyware being already present.

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• dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Newsflash: you don’t need to put your car on the internet.

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  • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There’s other sources of data: when you apply for financing, when you go for a service, and more.

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• Daevan@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Is the article valid only in the US or in Europe as well?

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• herr_hauptmann@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  That is why I am sticking to my Citroens and Peugeot.

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• applejacks@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  please just fix your browser

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