I'm watching you 😎

[enigma-2]

I was watching a YouTube video on a young woman who found that her insurance rates had gone up by 80%. Although she had had not accidents nor tickets. She decided to apply at other insurance companies and none offered better rates, and one refused to offer her insurance indicating that she was high risk. She decided to investigate and found that her OnStar had been recording her driving habits and sending the data back to GM (or it's designated collection site.) They in-turn were selling her data to insurance companies.

She requested her data, and received over 200 printed pages of tracking information on her driving. Information such as acceleration, braking, speeding, virtually everything you don't want your insurance company to know.

So I got curious. Does Ford do anything like this? Well, if you have Ford or Lincoln Sync 3 or 4?

Yup.

SYNC 3 (and 4) with navigation obtains
• A unique user ID (assigned by Ford)
• Your current GPS location and planned route and/or destination
• Your address or point of interest search requests
• Your search results selections
• Information about your use of the location search service
• It's performance, and your related actions and selections.

• Telenav (the company supplying these services) may use this information to provide, improve, and enhance its products and services.
• Also, the name associated with your FordPass account may be shared with other FordPass account holders.
• In addition, we may share de-identified information in accordance with applicable law. For example, information where the vehicle is operated may be shared with third parties.

We will only retain your personal information for so long as reasonably necessary to fulfill legitimate business purposes.

(Which is forever, of course.)

One user wrote Ford to our out of data collection. Here's what he received in an email.

"As you requested, your vehicle has been removed from your FordPass™ App and Ford Owner account.

If your vehicle is equipped with FordPass Connect™, data from your vehicle, including location information, may continue to be sent to Ford. To deactivate vehicle data collection, perform a master reset in your vehicle by going into SYNC 3 General settings and selecting Master Reset. For more information, please see the SYNC 3 section of the owner’s manual for your vehicle."

So I'm sitting here in my 2009, Lincoln MKX, darling little teenager that she is, with her Sync 1 thinking I'm safe. Nope. She doesn't have an on-board modem. Ahhh, she says, don't need one. She's still talking to Sirius XM. Location, location, location.

And .... (drum beats) ...
my Verizon cell phone which is coupled to the head unit, Sync and Verizon. And all those lovely little apps built into the phone. It's a two-way conversation.

Not feeling like such a smart ass now.

Looking at Sync 4.

"SYNC 4A will collect information about your daily interactions with SYNC and use this information to make smart one-touch suggestions on the user interface. (Can you say AI)?
The SYNC 4 Suggestions feature uses the following sources of information, aggregated over time, to build your SYNC experience:

• Call history
• Radio listening preferences
• Driving history

SYNC 4A available machine-learning capability (AI) can learn your preferences as you use your vehicle. It can support:

• Predictive calling
• Predictive radio
• Predictive destination
• Suggestive search for parking or electric vehicle charging locations

Edited April 8 by 1004ron

[Cerberus]

just for the sake of conversation, unless you keep your phone off, sound proofed and in a faraday bag (one that actually works) you are carrying around the most intrusive surveillance device you'll ever own.

Not that it makes it all ok, but anything resembling privacy has been dead for a long time.

Its just most people don't know or care.. because modern Narcissistic selfie culture has people trained to put themselves on display by choice.

 

[TourGuide]

There is so much that could be said on this topic - there isn't a snowball's chance that we will ever have any real privacy protections in the US anyway.  In the EU there are some privacy initiatives meant to be helpful - but in the US - the people who could set the regulation don't grasp the technology well enough to have any idea what questions to ask - so we have what we have.  At best - you have surface level  control of this - and you will like it!

 

Most if not all of what you detail above Google has had it's own version of for years - this is just the latest Ford version.

Edited April 8 by TourGuide

[Tim W. AZ]

I just saw, but didn't read a story about Congress working on privacy protections for Americans. Considering the players, I don't expect any real safeguards against tracking and driving behavior if it takes money or control from corporations. I have SYNC 3 with Nav, so as long as my driving isn't being tracked, I'm not worried about them knowing where I go, I have nothing to hide. In the event of a collision, isn't there an internal devise that records speed, braking, steering et al. Like as already stated, my iPhone is tracking more than my car.

[Cerberus]

1 minute ago, Tim W. AZ said:

... as long as my driving isn't being tracked, I'm not worried about them knowing where I go, I have nothing to hide....

You can be certain, your driving is being tracked.

It's not about whether or not anyone has anything to hide, it's more about what gives them the unmitigated gall to do it. And is it legal.

[Tim W. AZ]

2 minutes ago, Cerberus said:

You can be certain, your driving is being tracked.

I know. I'm old school and try to keep a minimal digital footprint, I don't like it, but know I have no choice. Here in AZ, you have to drive at least 10 over to avoid being run off the road. I've been her for 6 years and my rates haven't changed dramatically, so fingers crossed.

[garycrist]

At least I've hidden my identity.🤣🤣

 

DE KI6FG

Edited April 8 by garycrist

[Tim W. AZ]

8 minutes ago, garycrist said:

At least I've hidden my identity.🤣🤣

 

DE KI6FG

You can run, but you can't hide. The camera on my phone is watching me type this reply and forwarding it to the main office.

[enigma-2]

On 4/8/2024 at 3:20 PM, Tim W. AZ said:

 I have SYNC 3 with Nav, so as long as my driving isn't being tracked, I'm not worried about them knowing where I go, I have nothing to hide. In the event of a collision, isn't there an internal devise that records speed, braking, steering et al. Like as already stated, my iPhone is tracking more than my car.

Ah yes Grasshopper, Sync 3 does transmit your nav information back to Ford. The information I posted above came directly off the Ford website. (But the woman in the story was being tracked by her OnStar account, and we don't have OnStar. Yet.)

 

As for the black box, it's located inside the Airbag Control Module. This is usually located under the center instrument stack and works with the PCM to detect what's going on during a very short periods of time, in ten thousandths of one second or shorter.

 

If the data being given to the ACM, with its own accelerometer, wakes up the algorithm inside the ACM and says “something very bad is happening!” Then pop goes the airbag and the Event Data Recorder starts recording all kinds of information in the form of hexadecimal data (code).

 

This data can only be read by manufacturers, law enforcement, insurance companies, private collision investigators and their lawyer clients. You need special equipment to access and download the EDR.

 

Ford runs Bosh CDR hardware.

[STBEAST]

So, the only option would be to do a master reset, turn off all connected services and leave your phone at home?  👁️‍🗨️

Or just not worry about it 😂

[garycrist]

Disconnect the modem antenna too.

[enigma-2]

While Sync is calling home and reporting its nav settings, I don't see this as a biggie. 

 

Reason I wrote about this was the amount of personal information Online was passing and getting back to the woman's insurance company. 

 

I get monthly updates from Google showing where I've been traveled in the previous month. Shows my travels on Google maps, in detail.

 

By itself its no big deal, but ..... who else is seeing this? Law enforcement can get access (not that I would care), just that "big brother" is always watching.