Posted on 01/09/2014 10:06:54 AM PST by billorites
Ford's Global VP/Marketing and Sales, Jim Farley, said something both sinister and obvious during a panel discussion about data privacy today at CES, the big electronics trade show in Las Vegas.
Because of the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles, Ford knows when its drivers are speeding, and where they are while they're doing it.
Farley was trying to describe how much data Ford has on its customers, and illustrate the fact that the company uses very little of it in order to avoid raising privacy concerns: "We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," he told attendees.
Rather, he said, he imagined a day when the data might be used anonymously and in aggregate to help other marketers with traffic related problems. Suppose a stadium is holding an event; knowing how much traffic is making its way toward the arena might help the venue change its parking lot resources accordingly, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
>>All of those Mustangs are ratting out their owners LOL
Not mine. I bought the regular GT (non-Premium) and didn’t get the “Tech Package”. I don’t even have bluetooth on my radio. They can get some info out of the computer by hooking up to the diagnostics port, but it’s not going to rat me out wirelessly.
I'm sure it's easy to do, and you'll probably void your warranty.
Imagine the day when one pulls into the gas station and the on board computer transmits to a state receiver the mileage you've just driven since the last fill up.
Can anyone say.....mileage TAX?
If your car knows where you are, it can”t know how fast you’re going: Heisenberg.
...we appreciate the sentiment. Although even the younger are already complicit, we just don’t always realize it :(
I’m in my 40’s, I design vehicle entertainment/information systems (we call it “In-Vehicle Infotainment” systems, or IVI for short). For us it is about making the vehicle more useful, smarter, safer, etc...but sometimes the resulting infrastructure can yield information that is too tempting to not exploit by higher ups. Look how fast the technology is changing, if you’d told me I’d soon have something like a smartphone (internet, touch, 3d graphics, music albums, etc.) when I was in college I’d have said you were crazy.
The tech moves faster than our analysis of any consequences and potential for abuse. That said, people really think (assume) their Facebook data is private!
We are definitely heading toward something, something big...I do not believe we are ruled by moral people. Couple that with all this technology and they laugh at the Constitution, it is an illusion...they just let us “think” that it still means something. I do wonder if technology may provide a way to save us from them though.
“”We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,” he told attendees.”
Try telling that to the Ford owners who happen to shop at Target. That data Ford is collecting may not be formerly ‘shared’, but it is only as secure as the computer network that it is being stored on.
Buy a leftover 2013 model and keep it as long as you can.
Anything with an OBD-II powertrain control module (since what, 1996?) has data-storing capability. Not just speed records, but all sort of stuff like seat belt usage.
There's a paragraph or two in most vehicle operator's manuals - there's usually some reference to the data being available to law-enforcement agencies and your insurance provider.
So, the capabilities are expanding, but the problem isn't a new one. The big issue is the government's increasing willingness to use this information.
It knows where you are, and where you were 5 minutes ago, and the distance between them, so it knows how fast you’re going.
The tough part these days is finding carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps that will last with this ethanol-blended fuel. IIRC, there are carbs rated for the E85 blend, you can just re-jet them as needed. Mechanical pumps are the bigger problem, though electric pumps can be had that are more ethanol-friendly.
No, that only tells them how fast you WERE going.
Don’t forget they have the blackbox. They know how fast you ARE going, and your fuel efficiency, whether or not you’re wearing your seatbelt, how much gas you have, the volume on your stereo...
I can pick up a couple of spare mechanicals, or wire in an electric without too much difficulty.
“The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.”
—Heisenberg, uncertainty paper, 1927
Just trying to insert a bit of humor into the conversation...
Yeah I know, I’ve known people most of my life that do that. What they learned, and you eventually will, is that it’s not funny.
Yep, I used to carry a spare pump in the trunk; the rebuilt units from the auto parts stores were such unrelaible garbage. Old cars like that are great - you can do most such repair work with a set of SAE combination wrenches and two screwdrivers.
That’s cute. Who asked ya’?
“Remember catalytic converters?”
Remember the 1974 model year cars you could not start without buckling up?
Congress repealed the requirement for the 1975 model year! Cataylitic converters are not anything onerous for the consumer, this stuff is!
You did when you decided I should participate in your nerdy dork routine.
“We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,”
So, when a couple of witnesses say it was my car outside the Sac-O’-Suds when the robbery and murder took place, but I know I was 50 miles away, you won’t supply the data to prove it wasn’t me when I ask for it?
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