Technology

I spent a week in Pontevedra Spain a few years ago and it was amazing for the walkable city alone. Revitalizing downtown areas by turning them into walkable parks with shops is a great idea.

My solution is no new cars and nothing newer than 2005.

Cars are a series of compromises on every single metric nowadays, and they’re more expensive, making you pay for the convenience of having your data sold

Well, their privacy policy has all the deets. In section 1, "Scope", it says:

For the avoidance of doubt, for purposes of this Privacy Policy, "using" the Services includes being a Vehicle Occupant in a Connected Vehicle.

In section 2, "Information We Collect", it says:

Identifiers - A real name, username or alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, vehicle information (such as model and year), vehicle identification number (VIN), vehicle telemetry data, or other similar identifiers.

Other Personal Information subject to certain laws - A name, signature, Social Security number, address, telephone number, driver’s license or state identification card number. Some Personal Information included in this category may overlap with other categories.

Commercial information - Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered.

Internet or other similar network activity. - Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.

Geolocation data. - Physical location and movements, including from Connected Vehicle Services or Technology Services.

Inferences drawn from other Personal Information. - Profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, predispositions, behavior, or attitudes.

Recordings - Audio recordings of Vehicle Occupants. Audio recordings when you call our call centers or a Retailer.

Payment information - Credit card information for optional Services, such as Subaru Starlink.

You can opt out of Subaru Starlink, but all that does is turn off the benefits the owner of the vehicle would get. It doesn't disable the collection of information and recordings and such. (If you never paid for Subaru Starlink, this would probably prevent them from having your payment information, I guess.)

About your concern about kids, they have this to say:

Subaru’s Service is intended for a general audience and not directed at children under (13) years of age.

We do not knowingly gather Personal Information (as defined by the U.S. Children’s Privacy Protection Act, or “COPPA”) in a manner not permitted by COPPA. If a person under 13 submits Personal Information through any part of a Subaru Service, and we learn the person submitting the Personal Information is a child, we will attempt to delete this Personal Information as soon as possible. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe we have collected Personal Information from your child in a manner not permitted by law, contact us as set out in the “Contact Us” Section below. We will remove the data to the extent required by applicable laws.

So, basically, they're going to collect until you call and tell them why it's not legal. Until then, they'll assume they're not breaking any laws.

There's a whole lot more in the privacy policy, of course. And if you want more summarized info about the privacy policy, Mozilla's page about the privacy of Subaru vehicles is a good resource.

But then again, it's entirely likely you don't have a Subaru and don't really care about Subaru specifically. If that's the case, I highly recommend this page on Mozilla's site where you can go to look more into most popular car brands' privacy practices. Soiler alert: none of the 25 popular car brands they evaluated are much better than Subaru. And many are worse.

Whatever the case, it's pretty clear that whether they're "allowed to" or not, they do it.

And cars aren't the only concern. Robot vacuum cleaners for instance are an issue. (Also, don't believe a robot vacuum company when they say "this model doesn't have a camera, it only has an "optical sensor." If this interests you, see this talk.) And smart TVs. Just for instance.

is there any reason you can’t disconnect the mic?

Just that I haven't done the necessary research to figure out how exactly. Another response to my first post in this thread by @evasive_chimpanzee that links to a guide on how to disable the OnStar module, which would disable the mic, GPS tracking, etc.

Now, my car also has Starlink which, you can call and cancel, but that doesn't keep them from tracking you. So my task will involve disabling two different things.

But all that to say, there's nothing keeping me from disabling the mic, OnStar module, and Starlink except it's not something that's really meant for consumers to do and I'm still early in the process of studying up on how to do it.

If it's anything like my 2001, there will be. (It's the damn horn. The relay. It's wired in there with a bunch of other important shit, like cruise control. So, when i use the fob to lock the door, it doesn't simply chirp, it wholeass honks. Any efforts and documentation to silence this feature have been a failure. So I unplugged one horn and tried again and found out there were two.) I've been tempted to run a separate wire from the battery to the horn but I'm still toying with a wiring diagram about it because if I'm gonna rig it, I'd prefer to do it correctly, and only once😂 Good luck with your mic, though.

The last GM vehicle I had, it was possible to entirely remove the OnStar module without affecting the operation of the truck. I also knew someone else that found out that if something tears the little shark-fin antenna off the roof, it won't work either.

in the case the guy was talking about he never would have made it if they waited for and ambulance. and your "fantasy scenario" occurs more than you'd like to admit, especially in rural areas. it's the old adage, "i'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it"

That link works, thanks.

For example, if I’m in the middle of the woods camping and drinking, should I be able to drive my car to escape a forest fire?

The problem, of course, being that if an emergency override of any kind exists for such situations- then that override can always be used, making the restrictions null and void. which means all systems were simply added cost and maintenance headaches passed onto the consumer for zero net benefit.

Sure maybe they could make an always online system like onStar that would let you request an override to be reviewed by a person... but that's fucking hilarious to think any manufacturer is going to take on that cost, they'd make it a mandatory subscription for some stupid AI override bot, and that is an even bigger pile of fucking nope.

Yeah, you could detect a difference between drunk me and sober me, but where does sleepy me fit in? It's wrong, but not exactly illegal to drive while very tired.

Plus, most laws about operating a vehicle only apply when the vehicle is on public roads.

more specifically for the goal of this law, to reduce impaired driving, there's the insane zoning requirements of minimum parking for bars of all places. Other countries have less drunk driving than us because they enable transit that doesnt require you to drive, rather than just trying to forbid drunk driving with no other alternatives.