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