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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: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:38AM
East European stuff got laughed out of the US market with the Yugo. Perhaps a few parts might be sourced from East Europe, but we don't get East Europe brands at all. The closest is Germany. The same goes for China; the closest is South Korea.
Yeah, but most East European stuff is just German now with a different badge and fewer luxuries (and lower price tag). The days of communists attempting to build and sell tin cans disguised as cars in the West went with away with the wall and the USSR in the 1990's.
However if you don't have those brands there, then not much point considering it, so moving on...
Anyway, the point of buying a car is because my old one is falling apart. I don't want a used car. I don't want crap with 3 cylinders, piddly little 4-bolt wheels, and 1-star crash ratings.
Aside from this issue, decent cars: 2017 Volkswagen Golf Type R, 2017 Subaru WRX STI... get my drift?
Yeah I get your drift, so no second hand German bruisers :)
However you won't find a modern upmarket car that isn't totally integrated with electrics now. The systems are so closely intertwined into the car that you can no longer disable/remove say, tracking or Internet connectivity from the car without disabling the engine and everything else. Not to mention the push for DRM on cars, that will add even more fun in future.
The only market segment that isn't wired up the wazoo is the "cheap and cheerful" bottom end (Your Skoda's and little Fiats and Peugeots, and even they have the basic ICE with bluetooth and possibly touch/voice interfaces). However piddly engines and low power is par for the course for this segment, so not meeting your needs either.
If your needs must all be met, then you will most likely have to make peace with the direction the market is going when it comes to the electrical installation. I guess if you really are inclined, you can look online to see which car is the most hackable, then see if you can reflash/modify/disable the bits of the car you don't want.
I don't know around the USA, but here in Europe VW's are that car. A large aftermarket and shared parts bin means you can find all kinds of mods that add features, remove features and modify features. I have not looked at post 2010 cars, but I see no reason VW aficionados would have slowed down their modding.
Might be a direction to look into, see if the car is moddable enough to meet your needs and remove the features you absolutely do not want. Of course in addition to whatever else you see as important in your purchase, after which you can see if the car is for you.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday January 21 2017, @09:56AM
Oh, and one more thing. if you do consider a VW, stay away from the TSI engines. As an example of modern cars not being built as well as old ones, VW removed a piston ring from each cylinder compared to old engines, presumably to reduce costs.
The FSI survives this longer because it is an N/A, but the TSI is under more stress because of forced induction. This makes the TSI engined cars leak oil and break down very quick. Oil burning from the engine already started after 2 or so years of ownership from new, and you need to rebuild the engine, which isn't cheap.
The other posters recommendation for the focus-rs is also not too bad, they are decent cars based on reviews. However have not worked on one yet, so can't really give advice about it (which I guess is a good sign, when your job is to fix broken cars).