Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 6, 2023 20:33 UTC (Wed) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630)
In reply to: Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy by farnz
Parent article: Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

As long as that's all the system does (alert in a crash) then I'm fine with that. I'm not so fine with something that sends back information on a regular basis during normal operation.

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 6:07 UTC (Thu) by oldtomas (guest, #72579) [Link] (7 responses)

Problem is, once the infrastructure is there, there is an alignment of interests between states and surveillance capitalism (Shoshana Zuboff [1] describes pretty well how Google was allowed to grow in the shadow of three-letter agencies, because the former could do things the latter were not allowed to).

Believe me -- once the "infrastructure" is allowed to (or even forced to) collect the data for the case of a crash, they'll find creative ways to sell it to a data broker. Again recommended: Zuboff

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshana_Zuboff#Surveillanc...

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 9:51 UTC (Thu) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link] (4 responses)

This is why the GDPR, for all its faults, is a step in the right direction; by establishing that you can't collect data until there's a lawful basis to do so, and restricting the reasons that make it lawful, it prevents EU entities from extending such data.

And the infrastructure you're talking about is 112 or 911 depending on country - it's existed for a very long time. All that's new is that the car will contact 112 for you if certain conditions are met.

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 12:05 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> And the infrastructure you're talking about is 112 or 911 depending on country - it's existed for a very long time. All that's new is that the car will contact 112 for you if certain conditions are met.

Don't forget 999 ... (although your two also function perfectly well in the UK.)

Cheers,
Wol

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 14:02 UTC (Thu) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link] (2 responses)

We're talking about cars with GSM (or later related standards), so 112 always works - part of the standard.

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 14:06 UTC (Thu) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link] (1 responses)

I'm referring to 911 as well, simply because I've noticed that North Americans don't necessarily recognise 112, but do recognise 911.

In the actual network layer, the established call is not to a number - it's a special call type for "emergency operator", not a call to 112, 999, 911, 111, 08, or whatever the dialled number is. GSM devices recognise 112 and translate it to a special call - this translation also means that the network knows to prioritise resource allocation to the call, and (e.g.) drop other calls if needed to let the emergency call get through.

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 8, 2023 14:05 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Not all Europeans recognise 112, I expect ...

I know it's the official Europe-wide number, but many countries still use their pre-112 number as a matter of course. I can remember being shocked when I found out that 112 worked (as did 911) over here. Back in the day of public call boxes - I just happened to notice the notice about emergency calls, and it listed all three numbers, 999, 112 and 911.

Certainly no-one in my circle ever mentions 112 should the topic come up.

Cheers,
Wol

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 7, 2023 13:14 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link] (1 responses)

Public transit is looking more and more attractive.

Oh wait... we use smartcards to pay for that... D'OH!

Mozilla: It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Posted Sep 9, 2023 11:04 UTC (Sat) by ibukanov (subscriber, #3942) [Link]

In Norway one typically uses a smartphone to pay for a monthly public transport ticket and the smartphone is not scanned when one boards a bus. Only in the case of a rare control one is supposed to show the app. So most of the time one can travel with the smartphone off.