So they should also make it legal to rip that shit out or force the automakers to give customers that option.
Finland detects more GPS jammers as drivers increasingly try to hide their tracks | Yle News | Yle
Submitted 8 months ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
WallEx@feddit.de 8 months ago
RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
The article is talking about lorry drivers making trips for work though. I am not sure I understand the need for the drivers to conceal their location while they work?
But otherwise I agree.
cynar@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Potentially to skirt driving time limits?
Many lorry drivers are paid by the trip. If they get stuck in traffic, they are losing money. They are also required to take regular breaks, to avoid fatigue. If they jammed the GPS, then the company can’t prove they didn’t take their break, and worked through, to make up time.
It also allows for disallowed detours. “Sorry boss, I was stuck in traffic for over an hour”. In fact they went for a pub lunch, on the clock.
WallEx@feddit.de 8 months ago
Hm yeah in a working context its different, but still, why would they need to be tracked, other then MAYBE logistics (which lorry drivers would be), so yeah, gets muddy
thesystemisdown@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This article centers on those driving work vehicles that their employer has installed trackers on. I know recently auto makers have been found snooping, which I don’t even have words for, but this isn’t that.
WallEx@feddit.de 8 months ago
Yeah, looks like I misinterpreted a bit
Vakbrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
You know what feels wrong? You can easily buy GPS tracking devices on Amazon, but it is illegal to use a GPS jammer in USA, Canada and many other countries.
So companies spying you is fine, but blocking a GPS signal to prevent them from spying can get you a $16,000 fine.
flawedFraction@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The reason this needs to be illegal is because jamming the signal is not specific to you. You block your signal but you probably will also be blocking it for anyone else in the vicinity. Plus the way these things work they can create interference for other types of signals as well. It isn’t the blocking itself that’s illegal, but the interference that you’re causing.
Vakbrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I totally understand this and I agree when it comes to jammers this powerful.
My comment was about the low power models which only works for few feet, just enough for to cover your own car. Those are still illegal.
this_1_is_mine@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Active jamming is illegal but passive is not. You can block yourself but not others. FYI.
brianorca@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Tape some foil over the GPS antenna.
MeekerThanBeaker@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m no GPSjamologist, but if a jammer was running in your car, wouldn’t the signal reach other nearby cars while in traffic or does it do it all within the confines of your automobile?
Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 8 months ago
This person jamologises GPSs on the regular.
And yes, I doubt any county would fine you for jamming completely exclusivity (and exactly) only your antenna. It wouldn’t even be detectable.
zik@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s not just EVs - most new cars have these tracking devices where they sell your data to your insurance company to be used against you.
madcaesar@lemmy.world 8 months ago
How are they getting the data?
Etterra@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Just wait until your smart toilet can tell the insurance companies what chemical substances you’ve consumed so that the can raise your rates, deny your claims, or sell the info to your boss so the company can fire you with cause.
We already live in hell and there’s no upper limit on the thermostat.
elwy@fedit.io 7 months ago
We already live in hell and there’s no upper limit on the thermostat.
Well actually there is because the smart thermostats are getting remotely limited by power companies sometimes.
CaptKoala@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
I mean, I knew it was bad already, but please for the love of god stop giving them ideas that they may or may not have yet thought of…
KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Let me preface this by saying I completely agree that there’s a conflict here, but it’s pretty much required in this day and age.
Let’s look at the current situation: Someone buys a tracker for under $100, sticks it to your car, and they can see you wherever you go. It’s scary, because they can know where you are at all times, and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to figure out who did it.
Now an alternative where GPS trackers are illegal: Someone buys the generic parts for a GPS tracker, sticks it to your car, and they can see you wherever you go. But also legitimate uses for GPS trackers aren’t possible any longer. Say goodbye to things like tiles and air tags, hell maybe even GPS in your phone since you can get an android device with GPS for less than $100 and load it with software to do the tracking. At best you’ve prevented easy tracking with a huge detriment to the average user, at worst you’ve outlawed GPS tech entirely.
The final alternative is allowing jamming. I don’t have a nice story for this one, because the implications are far reaching. Is your jammer too strong? You’re interrupting other people’s GPS in a huge area, including things like navigation, child/pet/item tracking, time sensitive hardware could be using GPS as well, or things checking elevation. Not to mention, jammers can be used for nefarious purposes as well. Kidnapping a child and jamming a tracker on them, stealing a phone/wallet/keys and blocking its ability to report where it is.
There’s no perfect situation here, but the current state is the least harmful to the general population.
Gutless2615@ttrpg.network 8 months ago
Vehicle telematics is the next frontier of the cyberpunk privacy dystopia. I hope more people start using these things.
thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
you make that comment, in a week where we have had a megacorp public assassination of a whistleblower and cypherpunk crypto money has risen to a record high value versus government money?
TarantulaFudge@startrek.website 8 months ago
I would use one for privacy but there would be black vans following me around and probably land a felony. It is really easy to track these things. All they have to do is look for big blob of gps unavailable bubble moving around and they can also triangulate the signal with fairly cheap tools.
KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Never fuck with the FCC (or relevant agency in your country)
Senal@programming.dev 8 months ago
Unless you’re a big corp, then fuck with impunity but make sure to pay the “cost of doing business” tax.
If the tax is too high, just buy some lobbyists or political system equivalent.
Vakbrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Yes and there was an article few months ago telling that burglars now use wifi jammers to turn off wifi security cameras before breaking and entering. Those jammers are pretty much illegal as well but criminal do illegal stuff anyways…
That being said, how would blocking only the GPS help those “black vans” in their criminal activities? I lack imagination I guess.
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
There’s why you buy a bunch and slap them on any car you can.
PoliticallyIncorrect@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Fucking greedy corps… 🖕🖕
Johanno@feddit.de 8 months ago
So professional drivers, watched by their employer, are using those to escape the control.
Even if they allow them to disable the GPS, it would be a reason for firing smb. Or to cut their wage since, drivers with GPS on will get a bonus if they are faster. Or sth shit like that.
DosDude@retrolemmy.com 8 months ago
It’s illegal to spy on your workers through a camera in most EU countries. Why should GPS tracking be legal?
kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social 8 months ago
A camera and GPS are two very different technologies with distinct capabilities that do not overlap.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This is a safety thing. There are laws about how long you can drive without breaks because tired truckers kill people in accidents. They can’t force a driver to actually rest when stopped, but if there’s no law, then you know they’ll never rest. I would agree if this was simply active monitoring of location on a company sedan, but it’s different when the job is specifically driving for long periods
smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
You are registering where your own vehicle is driven by an employee that should not be using it for personal things anyway. In contrast to his/her face, this is not registering anything personal about this employee.
Takumidesh@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Can you elaborate? Is it illegal to have security cameras in a business if that means that an employee may be on it?
muse@kbin.social 8 months ago
I have never seen smb short for somebody, and spent far too long reading that as "shake my butt" in the same connotation as smh
DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Sm ppl use way too many abbr.
psud@aussie.zone 7 months ago
Yeah the scam shouldn’t last long. It should be easy to see if one of your drivers was jamming the GPS, and that would be cause to fire them.
Were they otherwise good the employer is in a strong position to force the employee to comply
BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If only all these tracking functions were easy to deactivate (or better, opt-in) then there would not be a need for jammers
dojan@lemmy.world 8 months ago
They should 100% be opt in. If I want to use GPS I’ll use my phone. I don’t know a single person that uses the one built into the car.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 8 months ago
everything like this should be Opt-In.
It should be a violation of our basic civil and human rights for this shit to be opt-out, especially in such a way that you are not even aware of it, or the ability to opt out.
umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
I would say depends. For company owned cars thats justified as it should purely meant for business trip only. For duel use vehicle, that there should absolutely have switch to turn it on for off.
eltrain123@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If they’re company owned cars, the company would be the one determining whether or not to opt in.