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Mercedes Spies on Drivers by Secretly Installing Tracking Devices in Cars

posted by janrinok on Friday August 23 2019, @06:23PM   
from the cue-music:-"I-always-feel-that-somebody's-watching-me" dept.

Mercedes spies on drivers by secretly installing tracking devices in cars and passing information to

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for FatPhil

Mercedes has sparked a privacy row by admitting it spies on drivers with tracking devices covertly installed in its cars. The secret sensors, fitted to all new and used motors sold by the firm's dealers, pinpoint the vehicle's exact location.

The firm sold more than 170,000 new cars in Britain alone last year. Mercedes will not say how long it has used the sensors. And it insists they are only activated in "extreme circumstances" — when finance customers have defaulted on their payments.

But it admits sharing car owner information and vehicle location details with third-party bailiffs and recovery firms who repossess the cars.

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/9756250/mercedes-spies-drivers-tracking-devices/

Mercedes-Benz Tracking Down Customer Cars For Repossession: Report

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3196

British publication The Sun, a sometimes terrible and occasionally entertaining tabloid across the pond, is reporting that concerns are boiling among human rights groups, former government ministers, and some legal experts about Mercedes-Benz using vehicle location data to track down customers who default on their finance program payments.

Source: https://jalopnik.com/brits-are-pissed-about-mercedes-benz-tracking-down-cust-1837449509

See also:

• https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1124662_mercedes-admits-to-tracking-vehicles-in-uk-for-repossessions
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7373639/Mercedes-admits-cars-fitted-secret-sensor-pinpoint-location.html

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Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

• Define "Sharing" Define "Sharing" (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday August 23 2019, @07:03PM (1 child)

  by DannyB (5839) on Friday August 23 2019, @07:03PM (#884291) Journal

  [Mercedes] admits sharing car owner information and vehicle location details with third-party bailiffs and recovery firms who repossess the cars.

  I thinks the word you is looking for is "Selling".

  [Mercedes] it insists they are only activated in “extreme circumstances”

  How large of a payment is required in order for the circumstances to qualify as "extreme" ?

  “I have to question whether it is even legal to pass on information to other people such as bailiffs. . . .

  How large of a check is the answer to your question again?

  Mercedes customers who buy cars through the official financial arm give their permission when signing lengthy terms and conditions — which often go unread. Mercedes says a clause about “location sensors” is in bold print just above a customer’s signature on finance contracts.

  something, something, about a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.”

  Questions: Is this tracking equipment removed if the buyer does not lease or finance the vehicle? Is this equipment removed once the debt is paid?

  A spokesdroid said that Mercedes is NOT trying to track the location of your vehicle. It is only trying to track the location of the left rear wheel well. Therefore customers should not need to have any concerns. Thank you.

  --
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• Re:Define "Sharing" (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @08:34PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @08:34PM (#884338)

  How large of a payment is required in order for the circumstances to qualify as "extreme" ?

  An "extremely" large payment. Duh.

  Parent