6 ms·

Your comment is insightful and made me realise something I was quite unaware of in India - that allowing your automobile to track, collect and share data has be

Your comment is insightful and made me realise something I was quite unaware of in India - that allowing your automobile to track, collect and share data has become so mainstreamed in the US / west that it is considered "normal"! I guess I shouldn't be surprised - most people are unaware that Ford (and some others) collect a lot of personal data when you take your car to the service centre (for e.g. they download your contact list and call logs from your car when they run the diagnostic software) More info here - Data could be what Ford sells next as it looks for new revenue - https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/11/13/ford-motor-credit-data-new-revenue/1967077002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/11/13/ford-motor... and Ford Eyes Use of Customers’ Personal Data to Boost Profits - https://threatpost.com/ford-eyes-use-of-customers-personal-data-to-boost-profits/139209/ https://threatpost.com/ford-eyes-use-of-customers-personal-d... ).

philsnow 4y ago
> they download your contact list and call logs from your car when they run the diagnostic software I'm inclined to believe you because I don't give cars access to my contacts and in general treat in-car software as already-compromised (I see the car manufacturer as more of an adversary than a partner), but do you have a source for this claim?
- webmobdev 4y ago
  I remember reading about this a long time ago (5+ years ago I think) - it was Ford doing this and it did cause some mild outrage in the internet. Unfortunately I cannot find that particular article - Google has become shitty for finding old stuffs and possibly Ford PR has scrubbed the internet so that the public can't find it easily (a common practice in the evolving online marketing industry). I've added two sources to my earlier comment that disclose the gist of what I have claimed.
  - philsnow 4y ago
    > Google has become shitty for finding old stuffs yes, but in their defense, the Internet has become (or has always been) shitty at keeping old stuffs around, so even if Google indexed it the link would be dead or empty by the time you go to look at it. Google used to surface links to their cached copy that they used for indexing more prominently but I hardly ever see them anymore.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  I don't give cars access to my contacts It seems that many people are less smart than you are. Every rental car I've driven in the last six or seven years has had some previous renter's entire contact list synced to the info-tainment system. People are just too used to pressing "yes" buttons to get on with their lives.
  - sitkack 4y ago
    This occurs not because the user decided to sync contacts, but because they wanted to play music. And both the auto manufacturer and the phone colluded to sync all contacts. iOS at least now has a pair only music controls.
  - Arrath 4y ago
    We're finally seeing things like guest or hotel login modes for smart tvs/netflix/hulu etc where it wipes your credentials every time you turn the tv off. I wonder why phones don't have a "Connecting to rental" kind of option in their bluetooth configs. Like you I see rental cars with all kinds of crap in the pairing history.
    - hunter2_ 4y ago
      Or car infotainment systems with rental mode would be awesome. Like if every time you pair a phone, the car asks if you want it paired indefinitely, or for N days. User sets N based on rental duration, and the car wipes the data after that. Granted, it's much better for the phone to not send contacts to a rental car at all, but either solution would be a significant improvement.
  - acomjean 4y ago
    I bought a used car (2010 Honda) with built in car gps unit. It’s not great but it’s always on. It had all the previous owners address look up history. Good argument for using your phone..

philsnow 4y ago

> they download your contact list and call logs from your car when they run the diagnostic software I'm inclined to believe you because I don't give cars access to my contacts and in general treat in-car software as already-compromised (I see the car manufacturer as more of an adversary than a partner), but do you have a source for this claim?

webmobdev 4y ago
I remember reading about this a long time ago (5+ years ago I think) - it was Ford doing this and it did cause some mild outrage in the internet. Unfortunately I cannot find that particular article - Google has become shitty for finding old stuffs and possibly Ford PR has scrubbed the internet so that the public can't find it easily (a common practice in the evolving online marketing industry). I've added two sources to my earlier comment that disclose the gist of what I have claimed.
- philsnow 4y ago
  > Google has become shitty for finding old stuffs yes, but in their defense, the Internet has become (or has always been) shitty at keeping old stuffs around, so even if Google indexed it the link would be dead or empty by the time you go to look at it. Google used to surface links to their cached copy that they used for indexing more prominently but I hardly ever see them anymore.
reaperducer 4y ago
I don't give cars access to my contacts It seems that many people are less smart than you are. Every rental car I've driven in the last six or seven years has had some previous renter's entire contact list synced to the info-tainment system. People are just too used to pressing "yes" buttons to get on with their lives.
- sitkack 4y ago
  This occurs not because the user decided to sync contacts, but because they wanted to play music. And both the auto manufacturer and the phone colluded to sync all contacts. iOS at least now has a pair only music controls.
- Arrath 4y ago
  We're finally seeing things like guest or hotel login modes for smart tvs/netflix/hulu etc where it wipes your credentials every time you turn the tv off. I wonder why phones don't have a "Connecting to rental" kind of option in their bluetooth configs. Like you I see rental cars with all kinds of crap in the pairing history.
  - hunter2_ 4y ago
    Or car infotainment systems with rental mode would be awesome. Like if every time you pair a phone, the car asks if you want it paired indefinitely, or for N days. User sets N based on rental duration, and the car wipes the data after that. Granted, it's much better for the phone to not send contacts to a rental car at all, but either solution would be a significant improvement.
- acomjean 4y ago
  I bought a used car (2010 Honda) with built in car gps unit. It’s not great but it’s always on. It had all the previous owners address look up history. Good argument for using your phone..