Always Connected

[sirben711]

I would like to start a discussion about this. I would love to know what you all think about it and what you think the future holds.
I am bring this up because of the youtube video below.

Personally, the first mod I did to my 2021 I pulled the Telematic fuse. Though, when I take the car in, I always reinstall it

Anyway. Probably all of us have smart phones which have the same, if not more intense tracking. But I don't know, I still don't like my car monitoring me. And if I am totally honest, my phone is running a modified Android version (rooted) to hopefully "help" with being tracked less. Does it matter? Does it work? Who knows.

I guess the trade off for the information being gathered is worth it for some. But me? Not so much.


So what do you see for future car tech? How will we be monitored? Will we become the product? Will we eventually get in trouble by these systems for driving too fast?

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[m3incorp]

My experiece is it was the police radar that caused me to get pulled over every single time I've been stopped. I doubt the car is reporting anything to "someone" that is out to get you. But hey, that is just me. Your computer or phone definitely stores info that can get you arrested, if you happen to indulge in certain illegal activites. I'd worry more about those two devices than the car. If you have google location turned on, on your phone, Google makes a nice map that shows exactly when and where you have been and even inludes pics of the places.

 

[Buldawg76]

Google is not my friend and is removed/disabled on all my devices from PC to phones. I use duckduckgo only as a search engine and only have tracking on phone enabled when using any certain app. Otherwise all gps/tracking data has been disabled on phones, so basically, I have a dumb smart phone.

Telematics in car is still functional since it only transmits to ford and the cops will plug into OBD port to download all pertinent info in event of crash or other situation. The PCM stores all info for 60 plus seconds before and after crash, so they know if you hit brakes or not and turned steering or not ETC. Generally only larger depts have the capabilities to get the black box info but it has been available since the advent of OBDII computer systems.

BD

 

[ice445]

I unplugged the TCU/modem fuse recently after watching this video. Mostly because having a manual transmission 300A car means I gain precisely zero benefit from using FordPass or having the car always transmitting data. All I could do with it is see where it is, lock and unlock, and see data that I can see while in the car. As a result, I have lost zero functionality. Even 911 assist still works fine because it uses your phone, not the car.

They got my data for over 2 years, so that's good enough for me, lol. As he mentions, in the future when these cars aren't being actively updated anymore, the chance of hacks go up slightly. Hacking itself doesn't worry me that much, but why even leave the option open? I could totally see some bot randomly unlocking cars or something else equally annoying.

As a final plus, I swear the infotainment interface is a little bit faster than it was before. I suspect when the APIM doesn't have a ton of data processing going on in the background, it can respond to things that actually matter much more quickly.

 

[Skye]

Telematics is a valid concern, but I have yet to act on it. I'd like to limit others to my personal information in so many ways (see below) but I sometimes can't.

If not already aware, a few additional aspects of IT to consider:

Anyone with a cell phone is already being tracked and recorded in different ways. For example, telecom companies track cell phone movements all over, and later sell that data to businesses which are studying foot and vehicle traffic for future locations.

Anyone with a cell phone, especially with Wi-Fi enabled, is being tracked as they walk through the isles of almost any department store. Businesses use the data to determine how to best display their products. I assume big box stores were also correlating their wireless data with in-store video from security systems.

Alexa? I'm surprised how many people willingly bring in and use a recording device in their homes, then connect it to the Internet. Ditto with home appliances of almost any kind.

Almost every IT device comes with both Wi-Fi and bluetooth enabled by default, often with little security. Companies want people to connect seamlessly and with little setup hassle. It's unfortunately another way someone could connect to anything you own.

Stores and credit card companies record, save and trend all purchases you've ever made, and often sell that data to others.

Buying used IT devices, from anyone.

Best I can do is be aware of IT and financial security in-general, keep software up-to-date, disable unnecessary services, and follow as many best practices as possible.

Google "Chinese Safe City Initiatives" to see how all these technologies can be used in the worst way possible.

 

[Bikeman315]

There was a massive thread about this topic started, I believe, by @Tomster. Bottom line is their are folks that are concerned about this and others that are not. Personally I don’t give a crap. And, quite frankly, I highly doubt that there is anyone out there who gives a crap about my whereabouts either.

Edit: found it.
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...al-information-locked-due-to-politics.151270/

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