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ratatoskrt | 9 months ago

...why? Seems pretty sensible to me?

discuss

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hshdhdhj4444|9 months ago

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/smart-mobili...

Can you explain why these protections are not sufficient for privacy?

> 112 eCall is not a black box. It does not record constantly the position of the vehicle, it records only a few data to determine the position and direction of the vehicle just before the crash and these data are only transmitted to emergency call centers if there is a serious crash.

> eCall cannot be used to monitor motorist's moves. The SIM-card used to transmit the eCall data is dormant, i.e. it is only activated in case the vehicle has a serious accident (e.g. the airbag is activated).

owenversteeg|9 months ago

>112 eCall is not a black box. It does not record constantly the position of the vehicle, it records only a few data to determine the position and direction of the vehicle just before the crash and these data are only transmitted to emergency call centers if there is a serious crash.

That statement is factually inconsistent. Either 112 eCall incorporates a time travel device or it must constantly record the position and direction of the vehicle and other data. In theory, that data is then deleted, but you have no way to verify that it is - and it would only require a trivial, unnoticeable software update to modify this.

Thankfully, we're safe. Car software is notoriously high quality and rarely hacked. All governments are fully trustworthy, especially around espionage and privacy, and have a perfect track record of never lying to the public.

Look, the European Commission stated that it cannot be hacked; "hackers cannot take control of it", from ec.europa.eu. They built an unhackable device. I am not sure what you could be worried about. If the government tells you something cannot be hacked, then it cannot be hacked. Furthermore, none of the EU member states have been found using other infrastructure to violate privacy laws.

PaulDavisThe1st|9 months ago

Because you have to just believe that they are followed, and cannot verify it.

rustcleaner|9 months ago

Your privacy should not rely on the government's "trust me bro" and it's like we forgot about China owning SS7 last year lol. No, it is plainly obvious to me that the mandate for eCall and the lack of an owner off switch for it is for nannying and surveillance FULL STOP. No option to opt out must be treated the same as the violations to privacy they are attempting to pre-construct the conditions for.

fucker42069|9 months ago

Well, for starters, the SIM card in the eCall system is only needed to receive a callback from the 112 service if the call drops, which the system automatically picks up. You can actually dial 112 without a SIM card in your phone, as a GSM device without one can still connect to nearby radio towers in a "limited-service set," better known as "emergency calls only."

I know some carriers have strange quirks in their SIM provisioning systems. For instance, it may take more than a few minutes or require a specific type of coverage (like UMTS) for an otherwise "dormant" SIM card to activate from limited service on short notice.

I found an article about eCall Callback that confirms this is a known problem: https://eena.org/blog/resolving-the-ecall-callback-issue/

kortilla|9 months ago

Some people don’t like built in trackers

rad_gruchalski|9 months ago

It's not a tracker. It activates during an accident, or via manual action.

Hopefully those same people know what ANPR is and how does it affect them.

SoftTalker|9 months ago

Almost everyone has a phone you don’t need a second one built in to your car.

FireBeyond|9 months ago

Almost like sometimes people get seriously injured in car accidents and can't get to their phone, assuming it's where it was left prior to the accident.

ponector|9 months ago

Will your phone be easily accessible after a crash with rollover?

bigstrat2003|9 months ago

There's nothing at all sensible about legally mandating that all cars must have a device which can be used for surveillance. Still less so for something which is at best a marginal gain in safety.

paulddraper|9 months ago

One more thing to increase cost, fragility, security concerns, in an age when virtually everyone already has a cell device anyway.