[abakker]

I mean, even back in the OnStar days, you could "opt out" and cancel the service and it would track you anyway. With BYD or any other car maker, I'd be worried the SIM was a placebo.

[observationist]

This is where things like a HackRF or flipper zero are useful - leave a scan running over 24 hours from multiple fixed locations within the vehicle and you can detect if there are any wireless transmissions, and then triangulate on exactly where they come from using several pieces of yarn cut to the length of estimated distance from the source.

Cars should be independent, local only devices. Having cloud dependencies is just reckless and stupid.

[jmward01]

Anyone know of reviewers that do this for cars? I just don't see privacy focused reviews on basically anything. We have reviews about how reparable things are and how good/bad the features are but rarely do I see privacy mentioned or in-depth analysis of TOS and the like to give buyers a sense of how good/bad cars and other devices are. Does everyone just assume it is terrible and go on or is there some reason this isn't a top level item for journalists to evaluate?

[ASalazarMX]

Can this be done without picking up the myriad of SIMs that pass near your car? How would you know which of them is your ghost SIM?

[ZiiS]

Flipper Zero can't see cell signals.

[hrimfaxi]

What would the car maker gain from adding a decoy sim?

[dylan604]

analytics. same thing anyone that collects data gets. how they use it might be different. most use it to monetize the data. some might actually use it to improve things. because some do use for making money, those that do for actual improving will always be deemed suspect

[rconti]

How far of a jump is it from the buses in Norway with hidden remote access to "decoy sim"? It might not even be a decoy -- it might just be the sim for the "user facing" telematic/infotainment, and there's another, non-optional one.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45824658

[Brian_K_White]

What did GM gain from lying about turning off On-Star?

The only reason a decoy sim is going a bit far to believe, is because it wouldn't actually work. It wouldn't actually fool anyone and would just look bad when the first reviewer pointed it out a year before the car is even available for sale. If it weren't for that, we already have countless example proofs that a company will do literally anything if it will work merely 1% more than whatever it costs. Including car makers obfuscating and even flat out lying about their various connections.

What do they get out of it? data & control, same as ever.