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submitted 2 weeks ago by PearOfJudes@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

I think car privacy isn't talked about amongst any privacy enthusiasts online ever, and it apparently is one of the biggest data collectors out there. For someone like me who values electric cars for there affordability and environmental reasons, but still want physical car buttons and control over my data, how would I go about this?

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[-] stupid_asshole69@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

You can’t! Even if you don’t use the cell phone based connections the car still has its own systems to wirelessly transmit data out.

You could yank the fuses associated with the cellular antennas but they’re attached to other electrical systems you’d want like the radio in every case I’ve experienced.

Also the data will be locally cached and can be collected when serviced or cause strange failures when it fills up the cars storage space. If considerate, smart engineers designed the car, they’d have different actual systems for the ecu, mcu, tcu and what have you but I’ve encountered one electric where it’s all in one.

So that’s scary.

Don’t buy a car made before 2007 and don’t buy an electric unless you know exactly what you’re doing I guess.

Or treat driving like a surveilled activity you partake of in public.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Can't you just replace the radio? Or is it one of those custom fits

[-] FG_3479@lemmy.world -1 points 2 weeks ago

Just don't connect it to the internet. The radio and Bluetooth do not need an internet connection to work and you can use your phone for maps and music streaming.

[-] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

In modern cars you’d need to actually rip the dashboard apart and cut the power to the built-in eSIM cellular antenna. Cars these days use cell towers to phone home, not just Wifi. And oftentimes, disconnecting that cellular connection will also disable major features of the car (like the radio and Bluetooth, which you claim will work just fine) because it’s all integrated on the same circuit board.

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this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2025
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