VW Data Leak Exposed Owners’ Movements

What does your owners manual say? My 2024 manual clearly states that the car may send data to Toyota without notifying me.

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ta-that-can-be-used-to-raise-insurance-rates/

It's something, time-limited and not settled but eh?

 

If you don’t select anything, they can’t sell the data to others, but can use non-precise data for internal purposes.

Basically, whether you decline or don’t do anything isn’t as important as simply not accepting.

 

Today, I called Toyota Connect phone number (800-331-4331) and the rep told me I opted out back in April 2024 when we bought our 4Runner. This seems odd to me because I was getting mileage / Tire pressure status in the Toyota app for a while until I opted out through the app somehow a couple months ago. I am probably going to remove/bypass the DCM for extra security, but still researching the things that will be impacted by doing this.

I feel I was born in the wrong generation. I'm not optimistic about AI and this "always connected" mindset that society is aiming for.

 

I heard stories of sales people accepting terms to get 'enrollment' bonuses.

 

More Of The Shame: Software Flaw Exposes Millions of Subarus, Rivers of Driver Data

 

That’s the same guy who figured out the unlock/start any Kia security flaw. (not to be confused with them being easy to steal which is a separate issue)

He’s doing great work and Subaru’s client-side 2FA is laughable.

 

Another data leak, only much worse this time. Website Exposes Tesla Owners' Personal Data

 

The time is nigh for the data collected on everyone over the last decades to be used in very unfortunate ways against owner’s personal interests.

What’s more unfortunate is that the aggrieved party in this case is led by somebody that has direct access to vast national data bases of personal info, and has the vast technical resources, AI tools, and H1b foreign tech employees necessary to quickly harness these (or any) databases in whatever way he sees fit. And arguably, he’s also the most powerful man in the world, and is in the best position to retaliate in any way he sees fit. This will not end well for anyone.

 

ANY data collection without the explicit approval of the owner of the vehicle should be 100% illegal. I am going through this ordeal with Mazda right now. Even if you never opt into their connected services, your vehicle feeds them tons of data constantly which can only be used against you. This is criminal.

 

Car Subscription Features Raise Your Risk of Government Surveillance, Police Records Show

 

I mean this as a direct observation, not as a political statement. Six months ago I don’t think anyone would have anticipated that someone entrusted with extremely high levels of federal executive power would also be the same person that retains ownership and control of Tesla, which is an automaker that probably collects/owns the highest amount of data from customers.

Any liberal, conservative, or person of other political persuasion should find this to be a completely inappropriate governmental arrangement in principle …because the concentration of power in one individual would make any potential misuse, error, or malfeasance result in wide reaching consequences.

Even if you currently trust in the person holding that combination of power, it should be a repulsive thought for society to accept that a single high level government official, with unexpectedly wide levels of executive power, to also have sole personal possession and control of so much personal information, data collection mechanisms, and data analysis capacity. It’s a situation that has the potential to allow for insane levels of abuse, and abuse that would be extremely hard to discover. Regardless of the particular individual.

So yeah, cops having access to this data seems kind of a quaint, old-fashioned concern, in comparison to the situation Tesla owners find themselves in right now. Especially those owners that might interact with the government in some way (which is to say, nearly everyone that participates in society).