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How To Opt Out Of Your Car’s Surveillance State (Before It’s Too Late)
(www.carsandhorsepower.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
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Physically disconnecting the broadband antenna is always a solid option too
For as long as they let you. Watch, soon they'll be required to connect to the network at least every 30 days to function.
so you splice a switch into the antenna wire.
They can't require connectivity or all cars would stop in tunnels.
You make switching RF sound easier than it is, but this is quite possibly the solution.
That or taking the train, but those have their own problems (including not being available in all places).
I have seriously thought about doing this. I believe if your car is stolen, your insurance will not pay out if you have disconnected the antenna. It's probably not enough to stop me from disconnecting the antenna, but it's infuriating how much the whole system works against privacy.
Don't buy it
I'll make the guess our next reply is "what if it's every car!?"
It won't be. Buy ~~used~~ proven.
Nope. I'll just upload your data when the mechanic plugs into the computer
What data exactly is it going to upload? There's a finite amount of data that can store and I'd imagine with the chip/storage costs on the rise no manufacturer is going to be using a larger onboard storage device. They're all too damn cheap for that
GPS coordinates and timestamps. Metadata from biometric photos. Your sexual habits from the seat cushion sensors (this is in their own privacy policy)
A large part of their income is selling this data to police (or anyone who pays the data brokers, really). It's cheap to store and it would be stupid for them not to.
I guess if you write this enough times it becomes true. How much data do you think a control module stores?
Probably more than 30 years?