3d ago

Ford Panopticon: Crowd-Sourced Car Tracking Revealed in New Patent

fuelarc.com Ford Panopticon: Crowd-Sourced Car Tracking Revealed in New Patent - FuelArc News

We all know automakers want to keep tabs on their cars. Stolen vehicle tracking? Sure. Fleet management? Fine. Microphone eavesdropping to serve more ads? Hate it, but OK, that’s a thing. Hold onto your tin-foil hats: Ford just published a patent for something that takes vehicle tracking into full-b...

We all know automakers want to keep tabs on their cars. Stolen vehicle tracking? Sure. Fleet management? Fine. Microphone eavesdropping to serve more ads? Hate it, but OK, that’s a thing. Hold onto your tin-foil hats: Ford just filed a patent for something that takes vehicle tracking into full-blown Twilight Zone territory. Always-On Tracking… In Your Car, or Somebody Else’s.

Technology @beehaw.org

KayLeadfoot @fedia.io

3d ago

Ford Panopticon: Crowd-Sourced Car Tracking Revealed in New Patent

fuelarc.com /tech/ford-panopticon-crowd-sourced-car-tracking-revealed-in-new-patent/

40 9

33 comments

The car listening to everything you say is absolutely not ok.
I get that's not what this article is about, but I hate how they're getting creepier and creepier things normalized.
- That article was what gave me the idea to search the patent database. All sorts of creepy shit in the pipeline. Stay tuned.
  Some fun stuff, automatic dog treat dispensers and stuff, but mostly appalling violations of your privacy. Welcome to the future, where Dearborn is always watching.
- It's why the rare times I end up going in my college club instructors EV I tend to stay fairly quiet. Quieter than normal.
  
  Unfortunately I think the ICE cars are just as stalkerish at this point (if the EV=creepy implication is intended). Kia and nissan even have bits in their privacy policies about monitoring sexual activity somehow.
- I've thought of creating a tracking-free app for modern cars that would be vendor agnostic so if your family has 2 or 3 cars from different manufacturers, it'd still be the same app instead of 3. But even if I do no tracking, the car company will still track the vehicle, they only lose out on the data from your phone, which likely isn't nearly as interesting for them anyways.

As if I needed another reason to not buy a Ford.

My cars are all over 20 years old. I won't have to worry about that for a while. Well,I do have a 2020 vehicle but it's temporary.

If you're aiming towards fully autonomous vehicles, having the vehicles know precisely where they are, as well as the knowing where the vehicles around them are, is key to avoiding accidents as well as for more efficient traffic flow.
Not saying the aren't privacy concerns and all that goes along with it. Just pointing out that there are some legitimate cases that rely on the same technology backbone.
- Right, there are legitimate cases for this. The argument, though, is that these companies are not to be trusted.
  I bought a new Toyota recently, and know from others that their app has some car tracking built in to it, where once you connect the app to the car you can see info on trips and gas mileage and such. When I bought mine, though, I carefully read all the T&Cs, and specifically declined the one that said it would sell my driving data to third parties. Guess what? I don't see that historical data. A minor inconvenience, but it lets you know who they consider their real customers to be.
  
  I'm amazed you could decline it and still get any functionality. Every app or website I have seen goes all or nothing.
- I've spent some time noodling on that exact question.
  It'd be great if we had a better functioning civil society, where the government and the 4th estate could insist on basic protections for citizens, and the corporations would be steered away from the worst profit-seeking excesses that they'll get into without the extra guidance.
  What do I know, though? I'm a comedian ;) 100% agree with you that there is a happy middle ground between new tech and privacy/civil liberties, but I'm doubtful that I'll ever personally set foot on it with the way things are trending.
  
  Until the brave masses start slaughtering the "elite" we're doomed to plod through the current status quo, which, to paraphrase Dr. Horrible, is absolutely NOT quo.

If you own a car made after like 2012, look into disabling the DCM/telematics system for your model. Pull the fuse, or unplug the cables, or straight up remove all the hardware. Its not a perfect and comprehensive solution but it's something.
- Smart.
  I think that's why Ford is patenting this specific tech. It prevents you from being able to turn off the tracking, by leveraging every Ford that has NOT turned off tracking to spot the vehicle that is "running dark."
- Wish I could figure out how to do that in my 2020 Pacifica. That fucker has pop up weather alerts that never stop. Idk why the car thinks it needs to tell me the weather. I am driving maybe I am driving away from that. Or you know I ALREADY know the weather because I use a phone. My car has no business having a pop up with the weather.
  
  I am absolutely furious to find out that you can totally turn off those alerts... by calling a literal phone number. You call Sirius FM, and they deactivate it, I guess it's a free trial or some BS.
  Comment #15 from Kailua Coach seems to do what you want done, what a shitheaded design:
  https://www.pacificaforums.com/threads/turn-off-weather-alerts.37618/
- I probably will at some point, but right now the convenience of starting my car from my phone is too high.
  
  #JustUrbanSprawlThings?
  In high-dense housing - or what Detroit may call "the only housing where the infrastructure can can support itself" the concrete blocks the signal to cars in the garage 7 floors below.
- Or drive a rust bucket

This is why I scream curses constantly inside my car. Go ahead and mine that data fuckwads. You're gonna learn I fucking hate NJ drivers.
- Naw, stupid easy for automated systems to clean up.
  Your life, activities, and habits will be mined by machines in order to target to and to adjust and mold your habits to best fit ~~your masters~~ whoever wants your loyalty in ways sometimes imperceptible to you.
  Consumed by companies and governments alike to target people both for monitization, and for enforcement action against the laws or political views at the time. Purchased by employers or potential employers to monitor and analyze your personal life and habits, to determine whether you are or are going to be a good worker bee. Shared with health providers and insurance companies so they can determine how and when they need to deny you service or care.
  Mentioned something bad about the company CEO on the drive? Shouldn't have done that. Talked about a pre-existing condition with your spouse? Shouldn't have done that. Talked about your kids mental health problems in the car? Welp, now anyone with $ knows too for the rest of their life.
  You don't want your detailed data in the hands of tyrants, it will be used against you or others near you.
  (Yes, everything I mentioned here already happens to some degree, yes employers can and do purchase your data from data brokers to judge your personal life. Yes health insurance will do everything within their power to deny anything they can)
- Until they sell that data to your auto insurance company.
  
  WYM until? https://www.reddit.com/r/GenesisMotors/comments/1fcs5hc/automakers_are_selling_your_driving_data_to/

That’s how you catch the Joker.
- I hate that Batman predicted this.

33 comments