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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: 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.

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  • (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.