I think car privacy isn’t talked about amongst any privacy enthusiasts online ever, and it apparently is one of the biggest data collectors out there. For someone like me who values electric cars for there affordability and environmental reasons, but still want physical car buttons and control over my data, how would I go about this?
Consumer reports recently added a privacy rating to their car ratings. I glanced at it a little last year. I think it rated if you could opt out and the reach of the sharing.
I do have to say that I’m generally disappointed with the discussion on this topic every tine it comes up. The majority of responses go contrast to the question. “Don’t buy a car” or “fix up a junker” are generally not helpful if you’ve already decided that your top priority is to have a newer car. Another thread actually recommended to move to another country where you could walk everywhere. Seriously.
Most often a car purchase is a complex decision making process where you need to weigh multiple, often conflicting priorities where privacy is only one aspect. I get the impression that if people followed the advice of the majority of these comments, they’d be living in a tent off grid, hunting for food to stay alive, but living their privacy dream.
On the technological side of things, you’re pretty much fucked no matter what. Virtually all car companies now have proprietary app integrations, partnerships with Google and Apple, and other anti-privacy features.
Some practical things you can do-
Opt out of as much data collection and sharing as you can. Read the manual and menu dive to disable optional features you don’t need.
If you finance or lease from the dealer, there are likely additional data disclosures and third party sharing that you can opt out of. Read all the paperwork when you sign your purchase or lease documents. In my case I had to literally fill out and mail something in (they don’t want it to be easy to opt-out because they make money from sharing the data with third parties).
With how expensive current cars are I don’t know how they manage to get away with this.
- Remove the modem, sometimes called the TCU.
- Buy a Slate truck. It has no connectivity.
E: if you have the disposable funds or the skills you can do an EV conversion.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it kept all the data internally and then published it to their servers when you go for to a service center or do maintenance.
If they aren’t already will be only a matter of time before they do this
Insist on one that doesn’t have all that crap in it
There’s always a trade-off in some way, though. For instance, Toyota is one of the best in regards to keeping physical controls. But they’re basically the worst offender in regards to data privacy. “Insist” is fine on paper, but (unless you’re a millionaire who can afford a custom-built car) you’re inevitably going to have to purchase one on the existing market. And the existing market is all about digital controls and privacy violations.
Saying “just don’t get one that has those things” is a little like saying “just don’t get a house that catches on fire” after a wildfire rips through an area. It’s not exactly up to the customer, and the average person could never hope to afford the custom work that those kinds of requirements would entail.
There’s plenty of perfectly fine used vehicles that are old enough to have physical controls, but new enough to still have a reverse camera and Android Auto. Personally I’m not buying any new vehicle with a cellular modem.
Yes, but this is kind of missing the point. We can’t all just buy old cards forever.
Watch a lot of the car renovation shows.
You can have an old car completely renovated for like 30k
That’s cheaper than just about any brand new car.
And you can keep buying old cars. You just are limited in selection.
I know one mechanic who converted an old Chevy S10 into an electric vehicle. It cost also about 30k and that was 13 years ago. He could do it easier, cheaper and better with today’s parts availability.
These are in Canadian prices
After rebuilding it, you drive your new 30k EV out of its refit garage. Pulling out into the road, you immediately get hit by someone using their cell phone, totalling your car.
The insurance company offers you $5k for your vehicle, as they value it as a twenty year old used car on a rebuilt title.
These things are never that simple.
… No that’s not how it works if you don’t want it to.
He said he paid about 120 dollars extra for some specific type of coverage due to the custom nature of the work on his insurance and when it did get into a collision, he got more than it cost him to repair it.
He did that project as a curiosity and used it as a shop vehicle, and it got a lot of use iirc
“Okay all of society: only buy old cards from now on and retrofit them for 30k and find special insurance to cover them!”
It didn’t work.
Just don’t connect it to the internet. The radio and Bluetooth do not need an internet connection to work and you can use your phone for maps and music streaming.
Pretty sure many of the cars sold now have a SIM card or something similar which the manufacturer pays for up front. I don’t think it takes much for them to ping periodically with the information they’d like to track and this ensures they get the data.
Still, don’t connect your car to the Internet, as that could give them way more data but I doubt that that doing that alone will completely stop the tracking.
Edit: typo
I don’t really care about car privacy myself.
Where I drive to isn’t really a secret, social events are organized on Discord. And if driving recklessly raises my insurance premiums then that’s deserved. I wouldn’t risk something as expensive as a car with privacy hacks.
“I’ve got nothing to hide”
