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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: 5, Informative) by stretch611 on Friday August 23 2019, @09:03PM (3 children)
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.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:54AM (2 children)
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.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday August 24 2019, @01:46AM (1 child)
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
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.