skuzz

Among other terrible things, this is exactly why Google shoving Android "SafetyCore" onto all Android phones is absolutely evil. Illegal phone searches become a casual click on a cloud interface to target millions with whatever they want to find.

Not really surprising given how all the social information delivery services are designed for a constant wall of short dopamine hits, and the platforms used to access the information are designed so no actual skill is needed to be able to access the information delivery services.

You give a rat a button that's tied into their brain's pleasure center, the rat will push the button until they die.

All computer-tech needs to be made more open. Not just from an observational standpoint, but the act of making disparate systems work together requires learning and knowledge beyond push button, receive good feels. Megacorp one-stop-shop software/hardware platforms need to be broken up. Both from a walled garden echo chamber perspective, and from a user-use perspective. When a company controls the entire experience, it is too easy to ensure their user is always engaging with their products and spending money/time. Making that company's life harder, makes the technology better for humanity.

Algorithms optimized for dopamine hits must be banned. As soon as our machines became revenue generators tuned for consumption, it was game over. Older systems, one used to have to learn at least basic things to accomplish a goal, which promoted the act of learning in general.

Basic hardware/software interaction and learning were useful side-effects of personal compute from the 1970s-early aughts. One was forced to occasionally open or fix hardware, one was forced to understand how the software worked. One ended up with basic understanding and approachability of the machines one used. Devices today are just expensive consumption toys with zero knowledge needed to consume. When they malfunction, the user has no reason or encouragement to attempt to fix them, as they can't see why the device ceased to work.

Big Tech has run amok too long. Governments are barely regulating them. We humans just gotta start saying no.

It's a weird thing in apps when you accept permissions. The app is allowed to ostensibly tether over the Bluetooth link enabled in the app.

Isn't it just hilarious how somehow, being rich just gets one a free pass to also "be smart"?

I bet, if they were to analyze the car's logs, they'll also find that nasty behavior in the software, where it disables all the autodrive stuff before impact, including ceasing to brake, so it can't be "blamed" for causing a wreck. (Whether or not they were using it at the time.)

So, here's a solution that will likely work but I'm just extrapolating based on auto industry stuffs. If the ads are driven by SiriusXM, they're likely coming over the satellite radio. The shark fin on top has several antennae in it, including the XM antenna, which is on a specific frequency band and antenna type. Find the wiring harness for the shark fin, trace the SiriusXM cable, unplug or snip it. You'll lose XM, but, honestly, based on the garbage I hear on a lifetime subscription radio these days, I don't understand why anyone pays for it, except for living in or traveling through remote areas with frequency and wanting live background noise.

Chances are it's possible they'd also try and load the ads via a paired Bluetooth phone for Internet, (maybe) if that's the case it's a little more difficult. Probably impossible on iPhone, but on Android may allow one to disable the act of shuttling data to the car stereo via Bluetooth. If Stellantis uses an app to proxy data to the car stereo, deleting the app on the phone would break it.

"I have a problem, you need to add a feature flag to my account that wasn't properly provisoned."

"OK, let's check, are you on wifi? Have cellular signal?"

"Yes, irrelevant, I need this feature code added to the account. You'll be off this call in 30 seconds and your KPMs will look amazing."

"OK, first, let's try resetting your network settings."

"You realize doing that erases all saved wifi networks, VPNs, Bluetooth pairings, and a bunch of other stuff that will take me hours to fix, and has nothing to do with my problem?"

"OK, continuing on... let me send a network refresh."

"Just look up the feature code to provision this."

"OK, we will, generate a new eSIM."

Most tech support calls here. Just give me admin access and I'll fix it myself. (I try to never be rude, I know they gotta follow a script but I'm hand-feeding the answer here!)

like cars haven’t been like that for YEARS now

Worse, Teslas are designed like computer software rather than cars, which is why they are so dangerous and terrible, as software development processes are absolutely horrible for things that actually matter, especially when compared to existing vehicle engineering principles.

I feel dirty cross-linking to that other place but check out how/where they locate the brake lines. A nice convenient rust-prone place, only accessible by removing the battery. Apparently the design has become even shittier since.

https://old.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/1j8sh8c/thx_for_making_me_take_down_the_battery_for_some/

Deorbit or seize the whole thing.

Keep it coming people! Stay the course!

That character could use employee diagnostic access into the cars as they are always on the Internet. SSH into them, get into the battery controller and do myriad things. Set the thermal management into permanent heat mode. Disable thermal management 100% for the next time the car is driven so it can’t cool the batteries (good for getting rid of pesky rodents like muskrats that try to live in them.) Mess with the charge controller in general so it overcharges, undercharges. You name it. All sorts of fun things one could add to that book depending on your plot.

Make sure while your character is hacking the battery controller though, that they set the car stereo to play Dragula by Rob Zombie at full volume. For effect.

These idiots were dumb enough to design Teslas like computers rather than cars, so a whole lot of stuff was designed like a crappy cell phone rather than the proven design principles of automotive engineering.

Remember he came in after they already existed, was just an investor that demanded he be retroactively called a founder. All their tech up to the CyberCuck were iterations on the original, (sans his corner-cutting you mentioned, which was also terrible).