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posted by janrinok on Friday August 23 2019, @06:23PM   Printer-friendly
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

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

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:


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by EJ on Friday August 23 2019, @07:30PM (16 children)

    by EJ (2452) on Friday August 23 2019, @07:30PM (#884313)

    This is one of the reasons I am hesitant to "upgrade" to a newer Hyundai or other similar car. Hyundai has this BlueLink thing like others have OnStar. On my current car, those stupid buttons are standard garage door opener buttons. On my sister's Hyundai, she does not subscribe to the BlueLink service, but she accidentally hit the BlueLink button and still had a person ask if she needed help. I want to rip all the electronics of that crap out of any car I drive. I don't want your satellite radio. I don't want your BlueLink. I don't want any form of transmitter inside my car that I haven't knowingly sold my soul to Google to bring around with me.

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  • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday August 23 2019, @07:40PM (3 children)

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday August 23 2019, @07:40PM (#884320)

    I don't want your satellite radio. … I don't want any form of transmitter inside my car

    Does satellite radio have a transmitter? I think I remember something about cellular data to cope with line of sight issues to the satellite in cities. That would certainly need a transmitter, and location tracking is a bonus that comes with it.

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    • (Score: 2) by EJ on Friday August 23 2019, @08:17PM (2 children)

      by EJ (2452) on Friday August 23 2019, @08:17PM (#884333)

      I know that Sirius offered me a free 3-month trial after my last oil change. To activate the trial, I had to go to a web page to click through. Then, I went out to the car for my radio to activate itself. I'm guessing that involves some sort of 2-way communication just like with satellite internet. It would not be surprising at all for satellite radios to be capable of outgoing transmission. If you look at a satellite phone, they're pretty small.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday August 23 2019, @08:59PM

        by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Friday August 23 2019, @08:59PM (#884350) Journal

        Maybe, but satellite services for a long time have had things like smartcards which contain an authenticator and the satellite broadcasts the key on a subcarrier that is always monitored by the unit. The device has to be prepared to receive whatever authentication algorithm is being used, but two way communications aren't necessary.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @03:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @03:58PM (#884793)

        > To activate the trial, I had to go to a web page to click through. Then, I went out to the car for my radio to activate itself. I'm guessing that involves some sort of 2-way communication just like with satellite internet.

        No, that's not how it works. You'd need at least a good sized antenna to send a signal back to a satellite - that would be expensive and complicated. There's no cell transmitter either: while cheaper, it's still more expensive to add and unnecessary. It would complicate certification, deployment in countries that use different frequencies, etc.

        SiriusXM activation works using a special code being broadcast based on your devices serial #. When you activate they add your activation code to the stream for a period of time. This is why you need to turn on the radio when they ask, to ensure it "hears" this signal during its transmission window.

        While lots of things in your car may be spying on you, I'm pretty sure the SiriusXM receiver is not one of them.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @08:08PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @08:08PM (#884329)

    Those are EU mandated, and likely soon in the US as well. That being said, I found the spy unit behind the radio and disconnected it from the antennas and the car, and finally completely removed it. The car runs, and it didn't cause the Government Alert (Check Engine) light to go on.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by stretch611 on Friday August 23 2019, @09:03PM (3 children)

      by stretch611 (6199) on Friday August 23 2019, @09:03PM (#884351)

      The last time that I checked on GM vehicles, all you needed to disable onstar completely is just pull a single fuse. The fuse had no other systems attached so it was quite effective and did not disable anything else.

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      • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:54AM (2 children)

        by legont (4179) on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:54AM (#884449)

        Yes, that's what I did, but I also cut the wire for a good measure. Dealers are not happy when they discover it during the service (and they discover every single time) but so far everything works out.

        In Europe, I believe, tracking device is required.

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        • (Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday August 24 2019, @01:46AM (1 child)

          by stretch611 (6199) on Saturday August 24 2019, @01:46AM (#884487)

          This is a guess... But I assume that dealers are not happy because they probably scan your vin and ask for onstar to give them all your diagnostic codes. After all, it is so difficult to reach under the dash and connect to the ODB II port.

          --
          Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
          • (Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 24 2019, @01:56AM

            by legont (4179) on Saturday August 24 2019, @01:56AM (#884494)

            They are actually trying to upgrade the firmware every time, I think, and then go upset. But you are probably right for the first cause.

            --
            "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @08:53AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @08:53AM (#884631)

      Those are EU mandated

      As a citizen of EU I've never heard of such a thing. Care to provide a citation? No?

      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday August 24 2019, @09:28AM

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 24 2019, @09:28AM (#884639) Journal

        I don't even have a car radio fitted. Nothing for 'entertainment' installed in the car at all. I'm there to drive, not to be entertained.

        EU Mandated? - there is a requirement for vehicles to have a speed limiting technology by 2022, but nothing for vehicle tracking. And I don't see how they can fit a tracking device - they have nowhere to disguise it or anything to communicate with it. I don't even carry a mobile/cell phone.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @10:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @10:37PM (#884939)

        Nobody can blame you for your ignorance if you haven't been told. But if you're too lazy to look it up yourself, that is a problem.

        "The deployment of eCall devices was made mandatory in all new cars sold in the European Union on 1 April 2018.[7][8][9] " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECall [wikipedia.org]

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @10:00PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @10:00PM (#884380)

    I want to rip all the electronics of that crap out of any car I drive.

    Just bought a new car and would be happy if I could just turn off all the things that beep at me. Seriously, every little action results in some kind of high-pitched beep. Just opening the rear liftgate/door and BEEEEP! Start car with driver door shut, open/close said door and BEEP BEEP BEEP. Open same door with car in neutral CONSTANT BEEEEEEEEEEEP. Open sunroof, one short beep. Close sunroof, two short beeps (WTF?!). And for the love of god, don't you dare take off your seatbelt before the car comes to a complete stop or it will beep the fuck out of you with the dial cranked to eleven! Pulling into a parking stall results in a solid tone once you are within ~5 feet of the car/wall in front of you (it's too sensitive), same for reversing. Driving down the road and bobble the lane divider? BEEEEEEEP_WAKETHEFUCKUP_BEEEEEP! Car ahead of you slowing down faster than you are? SOUND THE ALARM! So fucking annoying!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @11:05PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @11:05PM (#884402)

      While some cars are worse than others, please tell me which horror this is.. so I can not even bother with a test drive...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @03:41AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @03:41AM (#884543)

        2018 Toyota Rav4

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @10:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @10:51PM (#884396)

    When I bought my current car, a GM in 2014, I remove the antenna for the 'onstar' unit, and shorted the antenna lead with a resistor. All transmission attempts were lost as heat.

    Works quite well, and the system just thinks it is always out of range of cell towers. Downside? GPS/compass doesn't work, but I use my phone for all of that anyhow. This at least prevents many types of attacks.

    As I'm in the market for a new car again, I'm going to have to do an entire research cycle for whatever make/model I choose. Can I disable/remove tracking? My purchase dollars will stay in my pocket, if not!