Car sim card, API connection to BMW Company servers and privacy

[BMW_User]

A friend of mine works in government and she isn’t allowed to have any Alexa type device at home. Guaranteed that the Chinese and Russians are listening in.
I have no such fear and couldn’t care less if they are listening to me spanking the monkey.

On topic though, yes modern cars are all tech connected and new regulations about speed control and gadgets to control how we drive. We don’t have long left of driving pleasure.

They are right, but it's not the Russian and the Chinese...
Have you heard of Edward Snowden? The IT Contractor whistleblower that in 2013 informed the world through The Guardian that the NSA (US Government) and MI6 had been listening to and copying every private message of emails and messengers, and were also spying on EU Politicians and Heads of States?
Well, Russians and Chinese were out of this story. Alexa is 100% US, not China. But again, you can do without Alexa, not without car.

 

[BMW_User]

Hi everyone,

I would like to share some concerns about the way modern cars, including our Z4, are constantly connected to the car maker servers.
Pretty much all new cars have a sim card used for:
Sat nav and traffic information
Emergency breakdown assistance
Remote checks
BMW and many other car makers have started introducing permanent connections to their servers exposing some services that the car can access over the Internet (the set of services is called usually API, technically).
Modern cars have a sim card which the majority of the customers are not aware of, a microphone in the car for voice activated functions and remote assistance as a premium package.
In a nutshell, when we use our cars, the car maker can know everything that is happening in the car: speed, location and also potentially what we say in the car.

This to me is already disturbing enough and, if the car maker can have all this information, so can the Government should they want to legally force car makers to handle all this data for national security reasons or what not.
All the above has already happened for other sectors so I'm not discussing whether it's possible, legal or probable. If it can be done, it will be done.

My car dealer told me many times that when taking a new car for personal use, he and his colleagues switch off all the advanced features as they don't trust and don't approve this invasion of privacy.
The problem is that they cannot switch everything off, for example the sim card connection, unless you go fiddle with the wiring and/or hack the software.

Car makers seem to justify this by telling customers that they want to help drivers, forgetting that if you cannot drive a car properly without assistance of any sort, you should probably not have a driving license in the first place.
The reality is that this data is part of big data collected from other sources and it is used for real-time analysis of cars, traffic, routes, habits, and so on at the sole benefits of car makers and ultimately the Government.

Recently, an official communication from some Governments said that the new cars will have to have a black box and a kill switch to be used from the Law Enforcement.
Apart from the dangers of switching off the car remotely when the car is moving on the road and performing actions like overtaking, avoiding obstacles or else, the implementation sounds like a nanny state that considers you a 5 year old child incapable of having individual freedom and judgement, and wants to tell you when you can use the car, where you can use the car and at what conditions.

I am hoping people can see the shift towards a more and more centralized form of control in all aspects of our society, but sticking to the subject of cars that I have described above, has any of you thought about these problems and is anyone talking about this in the industry?
Are there associations of car drivers or car enthusiasts that are trying to put pressure on the Governments on this matter?

You are on here to 'have a laugh' If you think people reply because they are interested, then you really are disillusioned. People with comments like yours have been on this forum before, all have been 'Newbies', goodbye R Sole.

Ah don’t upset him. We were enjoying the baiting

This country is going downhill because people like you waste their time laughing like idiots while others laugh at you from Westminster while planning how to f**k up your life faster.

 

[BMW_User]

Pity he left, I was wanting to ask if the earth was flat.

The earth is rounded motherfucker, you can try and jump from a cliff to see the horizon. What a useless piece of nothing.

 

[BMW_User]

Troll or not, he raised valid concerns, but looks like no one is bothered about vanishing privacy and being monitored all the time by "smart" devices.

I see no reason for BMW or other manufacturers to record all my movements. Yet, under the disguise of safety (SOS systems) and convenience (live traffic or other gadgets), we are.

Actually, this thread reminded me, that I shouldn't buy a new car and replace Z4 with something used without smart features. I was already looking at older models, pre-2017.

Thanks for your fair message. That was exactly my point and I don't know why so many on here don't take this matter seriously.
We drivers / users have an enormous power and can change the course of events.
Having a car which switches itself off and tracks your movements sounds like a communist nightmare. This Government is becoming more and more like China and cars are just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[BMW_User]

A friend was involved in a serious accident in his new 3-series. On a back of beyond road at 3am. Emergency services were there in under ten minutes and managed to stop the severe bleeding in time. There’s one benefit for you.

You can have a car that signals the accident in an emergency. That is a 90' technology... You don't need APIs to transfer data, sound, GPS location, car current speed, avg speed, max speed, consumption at all times to BMW servers... I hope we agree on this point...

 

[StanDiego]

As far as I know, nobody is putting pressure on the governments because they see it as a necessary evil to enable all of the safety features.

I also believe that many see it as a necessary "fate", but it doesn't have to be like that. As for the devices in your house that you've mentioned, you can certainly have an equivalent without connecting outside your house.
The car is a necessity and the Governments try to impose what they want forgetting that they are there to serve the people, not to rule the people.

Hopefully your original post was intended to solicit interest in the topic and build a group of supporters to take your cause to a higher level. It seems to have failed in this G29 forum but you may have better luck posting in a general forum rather than a model specific forum. Best of luck!

 

[BMW_User]

Troll or not, he raised valid concerns, but looks like no one is bothered about vanishing privacy and being monitored all the time by "smart" devices.

I see no reason for BMW or other manufacturers to record all my movements. Yet, under the disguise of safety (SOS systems) and convenience (live traffic or other gadgets), we are.

Actually, this thread reminded me, that I shouldn't buy a new car and replace Z4 with something used without smart features. I was already looking at older models, pre-2017.

On a somewhat brighter note; at least the data our BMW's send out (I assume) is going to Germany, which has some pretty strict laws on privacy.
I just hope BMW never gets hacked & the data of our cars is 'leaked', much like mail addresses, passwords, credit card data that is already 'out there' on the dark web.

Frankly I'd love to know what telemetry is being sent by our cars, not even sure if that information is available anywhere. I know IT companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google etc are being scrutinised for this kind of stuff... but I wonder if car companies are also?

Some food for thought for you:
If a private company has your data and the Government request it, they will hand it over quickly.
The solution is not to have your data but promise not to use it like the useless GDPR.
The solution is not even that they know some of the data.
The solution is that they don't even know WHAT data they might want to have. That's called private for you.
If you share anything with any Company, remember that there are specific "channels" that companies keep open or build on purpose to share some or all the data with the national security agencies.
If you think that "after all that's not a problem", think again. A couple of years ago your Govt tried to force you to stay at home without any legal grounds... what do you think it happens when all the cars are monitored 24/7 and can be switched off remotely?
The UK is the most surveilled country after China. Go check yourself.

 

[enuff_zed]

Wahay! He’s back and more eloquent than ever.

 

[Scubaregs]

Aaaand it's return of the troll.

So, is the Earth flat?

 

[Scubaregs]

Wahay! He’s back and more eloquent than ever.

You've misspelled arseholish mate.

 

[Nanu]

Data, we were not even aware was data, has been collected and stored then used against against us for nefarious means for centuries.

It's called being married to a woman.

Mine certainly knows all the passwords to my bank accounts

 

[Scubaregs]

Data, we were not even aware was data, has been collected and stored then used against against us for nefarious means for centuries.

It's called being married to a woman.

Mine certainly knows all the passwords to my bank accounts

Even worse mate, she talks in her sleep but thanks for the new bike.

 

[Nanu]

Data, we were not even aware was data, has been collected and stored then used against against us for nefarious means for centuries.

It's called being married to a woman.

Mine certainly knows all the passwords to my bank accounts

Even worse mate, she talks in her sleep but thanks for the new bike.

Bang goes the holidays then.

 

[Scubaregs]

Mine certainly knows all the passwords to my bank accounts

Even worse mate, she talks in her sleep but thanks for the new bike.

Bang goes the holidays then.

Was that a pun?

 

[enuff_zed]

Even worse mate, she talks in her sleep but thanks for the new bike.

Was she asleep before you started talking? :wink:

 

[Scubaregs]

Even worse mate, she talks in her sleep but thanks for the new bike.

Was she asleep before you started talking? :wink:

Chloroform generally has that effect.

 

[Pondrew]

I cannot believe I missed this thread. Best fun reading I've had on here for a while TBH. Don't normally read the G29 section, as it's a bit 'high tech' and above my pay grade.

I really don't understand why some people are so worried about the 'digital spying' thing (especially as most newish BMW owners work in the IT sector, which seems a little hypocritical)?

From what I gather, the ONLY reason anybody is 'spying' on us is to try and sell us stuff, one way or another. Google spy on us to make advertising more 'relevant', BMW are spying to 'tailor' cars and make sure we spend lots of cash getting them serviced.

We all have a choice; sell your super-high-tech G29 and buy an E85 where you have to use a match to spark up the headlights.

 

[Pondrew]

Mr BMW_User: you do realise that you are being 'monitored' by the advertisers on this forum too? There is an irony there, me thinks!

 

[enuff_zed]

Mr BMW_User: you do realise that you are being 'monitored' by the advertisers on this forum too? There is an irony there, me thinks!

Given the level of intellect exhibited by his limited vocabulary and puerile need to resort to swearing to mask his inadequate grasp of the English language, methinks you should replace ‘Mr’ with ‘Master’.

 

[Scubaregs]

Mr BMW_User: you do realise that you are being 'monitored' by the advertisers on this forum too? There is an irony there, me thinks!

Given the level of intellect exhibited by his limited vocabulary and puerile need to resort to swearing to mask his inadequate grasp of the English language, methinks you should replace ‘Mr’ with ‘Master’.

Ah so he is not a troll then, more of a baiter?