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from the is-Howard-Stern-listening-in-on-you? dept.
A recent techdirt article says that
Thomas Fox-Brewster of Forbes is taking a closer look at a decade-plus of in-car surveillance, courtesy of electronics and services manufacturers are installing in as many cars as possible.
Following the news that cops are trying to sweat down an Amazon Echo in hopes of hearing murder-related conversations, it's time to revisit the eavesdropping that's gone on for years prior to today's wealth of in-home recording devices.
One of the more recent examples can be found in a 2014 warrant that allowed New York police to trace a vehicle by demanding the satellite radio and telematics provider SiriusXM provide location information.
In this case, SiriusXM complied by turning on its "stolen vehicle recovery" mode, which allowed law enforcement to track the vehicle for ten days. SiriusXM told Forbes it only does this in response to search warrants and court orders. That may be the case for real-time tracking, but any location information captured and stored by SiriusXM can be had with nothing more than a subpoena, as this info is normally considered a third-party record.
It's not just satellite radio companies allowing cops to engage in surreptitious tracking. OnStar and other in-vehicle services have been used by law enforcement to eavesdrop on personal conversations between drivers and passengers.
In at least two cases, individuals unwittingly had their conversations listened in on by law enforcement. In 2001, OnStar competitor ATX Technologies (which later became part of Agero) was ordered to provide "roving interceptions" of a Mercedes Benz S430V. It initially complied with the order in November of that year to spy on audible communications for 30 days, but when the FBI asked for an extension in December, ATX declined, claiming it was overly burdensome.
The 2001 case didn't end well for law enforcement. It wasn't that the court had an issue with the eavesdropping, but rather that the act of listening in limited the functionality of the in-car tech, which the court found to be overly-burdensome.
[...] Law enforcement may find encryption to be slowing things down in terms of accessing cell phone contents, but everything else -- from in-car electronics to the Internet of Things -- is playing right into their hands.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 3, Informative) by butthurt on Friday January 20 2017, @07:12PM
> [...] no electric car has been built without all the electronic spyware.
I disagree.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/business/bob-beaumont-who-popularized-electric-cars-dies-at-79.html [nytimes.com]
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday January 20 2017, @08:41PM
Nice! Thanks for the link. Although I guess I should have said "modern electric cars". With its design, and only 40mph top speed, I don't think that would even be allowed on public roads here in Europe. Still, very nice.
I guess if push comes to shove people can build/assemble their own cars, but that is going to be one hell of a niche. Most people would not want to do anything like that.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday January 21 2017, @03:06AM
> [...] I guess I should have said "modern electric cars".
The Nissan Leaf is modern, yet in the USA the cellular network that earlier models used for its telematics is being dismantled:
Just got a letter from Nissan. I assumed it was about the security flaws in NissanConnectEV (formerly Carwings).
Instead, it detailed once again, how At&T's 2G network is going away at the end of 2016.
-- https://www.reddit.com/r/leaf/comments/48d2mb/nissan_will_pay_for_upgrade_once_2g_is/ [reddit.com]
The Leaf has also been sold in Europe and Japan; perhaps similar events will occur there as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf [wikipedia.org]
Of course, any self-respecting surveillance state will operate "stingray" (cell site simulator) devices.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/08/23/baltimore-police-stingray-cell-surveillance/31994181/ [usatoday.com]
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/dec/02/virginia-state-police-release-cellphone-surveillan/ [muckrock.com]
> I guess if push comes to shove people can build/assemble their own cars [...]
I'm under the impression that it's more common for people to retrofit ICE cars for electric operation. Kits are sold for doing so, or one can acquire the parts separately.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday January 21 2017, @09:40AM
Very interesting stuff, thanks for the links!
> The Nissan Leaf is modern, yet in the USA the cellular network that earlier models used for its telematics is being dismantled:
Yes, but I am sure that if push comes to shove it can be re-enabled on a local level. Like you mentioned, you can get portable cell simulators. However that at least will require the police to put some effort into tracking you, so more likely to be used if they already have a case against you, rather than blanket simlation
> I'm under the impression that it's more common for people to retrofit ICE cars for electric operation. Kits are sold for doing so, or one can acquire the parts separately.
Good point, that is quite likely, although ICE cars have issues with conversion, such as battery placement. Due to the lower energy density of batteries, you need more volume of space in the car to reach an acceptable range than the fuel tank occupied.
However I have already seen "future car" designs which are basically in kit form, and you decide how you want it to look. Such as this one:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a16726/local-motors-strati-roadster-test-drive/ [popularmechanics.com]
Somehow I think it will be easier for people to buy such kits, assemble and get their kind of custom body built for it, then it is to retrofit cars that really were not designed for such power trains originally.