1y ago

Court rules automakers can record and intercept owner text messages

therecord.media Court rules automakers can record and intercept owner text messages

A Seattle-based appellate judge ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors.

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That's a very good reason to not connect your phone to your car.
- That's a very good reason to not buy any car which has this interception "feature".
  
  That’s a very good way of saying don’t buy anything built in the last five years
  
  Ok, du you have a list of what cars to avoid?
- Or you can deny the permission when you connect it

Appellate court (appellate judge) aka second instance court. So while not the end of discussion, that is quite absurd.
- I'm short of time so I haven't found the original complaint but according to the appeals court ruling, the plaintiffs never claimed any actual damages. The heading of the law in question is "Violating right of privacy—Civil action—Liability for damages."
  Is this a privacy violation? Yes. Did these people suffer any actual damages under the law? Evidently not.

I bought my first car this year, I am very happy with it, it is a 2021 Seat Leon PHEV, but shit like this is terrible.
I remember several years ago when I noted that cars had started comming with emergency SOS buttons and apps, that made me realize that there had to be a built in mobile phone connection, and after reading some more, yep, I was right, automakers put in a cell phone module with an eSIM that is allways connected, meaning the car keeps talking to the automakers servers, even if you don't connect a phone.
This means that it is worth it to the automakers to add a phone module and continously pay for a subscription for every car, even if you don't use the feature, that is scary.
- Working for a Mobile network provider that does connectivity for cars among other things i can add to that, that they are paying a fairly high price for this stuff too.

Ok so maybe the legislature should stop it
- Not just maybe. This must stop.

encrypt everything, layers and layers of encryption and then feed them garbage

OK, I finally read the original allegation and this is grossly irresponsible reporting. We can put our pitchforks down. The plaintiffs never even claim that the automakers can access your text messages in the first place. This is entirely about the car’s hardware locally caching the messages it displays, some of which could possibly then be read from the cache using specialized and not commonly available equipment.
Is it something to be aware of? Sure. Is something the average person should be concerned about? Not really.

- But how can you really be sure? Lte chips are small. Also what if you take it in for service and they pull the data 😂
  
  But how can you really be sure?
  By refusing to own any car manufactured after the technology became available. That's my strategy, anyway.
  (It's also 'cause I like things like manual transmissions that are harder to find on newer vehicles.)

Is anyone familiar enough to know if this includes text via Apple CarPlay?
- I believe CarPlay is still almost entirely controlled by the Apple device and the screen in the car is a glorified display. So the car would likely know that you’re using CarPlay but probably not much else.

Well, sucks for Washington.

They are going to be very bored reading my texts.
- Ah, the classic "nothing to hide" response.
  How did that quote go again? "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime"? Even things you think may be innocuous can and will be used against you if given reason to.
  
  Or alternatively privacy matters even for those with nothing to hide. Everyone knows how your kid was made, but you don’t want just anyone to see.
  
  Innocence proves nothing
  
  I have plenty to hide I just don't do those things texting on my phone. That section is very boring. Compartmentalize people.

30 comments