Thursday, March 14, 2024

The 'Internet of Things': Spyware and security leaks,

including from the car company to your insurance company.

Not long ago my insurance said that if I opted to install their 'driver safety box' in my truck it would probably lower my insurance.  Which sounds nice, but when you look at the information you find you're installing a tracking device that will tell them when and where you go, how fast you drive, if you brake or accelerate 'unsafely' or 'unnecessarily'- by their definition-  and so forth.  Screw that.

Few years ago daughter gave that a trial on her car, to find that she was an 'unsafe driver' according to the box.  Oh, that braking?  She was backing out of a parking space when some clown came shooting down the lane and she had to brake hard to avoid a crash, and the damned box beeped at her.  So you can't win, and you let them track you everywhere.

8 comments:

Rob said...

Big Brother IS watching...

Sailorcurt said...

Yea, that story is not about insurance companies convincing you to let them track you, it's about automakers selling your information to insurance companies for profit.

And it's not "leaks"...it's intentional.

And you agree to it when you buy their cars.

I will not own a car that has the ability to transmit data to the outside world. If that means I can't ever buy a car newer than "x", I'm OK with that. What it'll probably mean is that at some point, after buying a car, I'll have to go searching for antenna wires with a pair of diagonal cutters (what we used to call "dikes" but that's probably politically incorrect these days).

Currently, my newest vehicles are 13 years old. Wife's car, my Truck and Wife's motorcycle. Here's hoping I can make them last until we get too old to drive. It'll be a stretch, but not impossible.

Anonymous said...

I think my favorite "phone home" story was a manufacturer of "adult toys" geared for women that had their product phone home usage information such as frequency, time of day, and intensity settings.

Firehand said...

It's both. And when there's no mention of "If you agree to this electronic addition, we can gather your data and sell it" then you're not agreeing.

And yeah, finding the antenna and making it inoperable sounds like a good idea.

Anonymous said...

The 2023 truck work got shut down and stopped working, they got it towed back to town and it woke up. Turns out too long outside cell range and it shuts down because it ran out of room to store the data to upload.
Now we have to make sure the remote field trucks get cycled to areas with cell coverage each month.
Not sure if it was a ford or chevy as we have both.
I'd bet if you cut that antenna it would do the same thing.
Exile1981

Firehand said...

That is one of the most stupid ways to brick a vehicle I've heard of.

Steve said...

I used one of those monitors over a year ago. I wanted to see if I could get some coinage back from the theifs at the insurance company.
Well wouldn't you know it; that's the week everyone tried to brake check me, tried to run me off the road, tried to slow me down.
I gave up after a week. Knew I wasn't going to get any reduction in the premium.

Terrytheterrible said...

Like your daughter if you avoid an accident with extreme action you're labeled unsafe with those fuckers. The way I drive, 1 accident and 2 deers in 45 years, my insurance would be very expensive.