2y ago

Is there a way to make an interface or to use an app like Signal so your texts can't get "legally intercepted" via bluetooth from all car manufacturers?

They deemed it legal for all car manufacturers that any text you send through their system are free for them to read.

22 comments

Don't use vehicle integration between your phone and car at all?
Even then, you're still trusting your phone, though. Unless you're using something pretty custom like LineageOS, I'd be surprised if there was anything keeping other parties (Google/Apple?) from spying on your phone communications.
Maybe (maybe) there are regulations keeping your carrier from spying on the contents of your texts. (Maybe.) But (again, unless you're going the extra mile and using LineageOS with F-Droid and no Google apps or something) I'd be surprised if there was anything keeping your phone's manufacturer or evil apps from intercepting your messages.
But also, cars have worse issues than that. I just got a Subaru and their EULA says that by riding in or driving a Subaru, I agree to allow Subaru to record any audio in the car and use the audio to train AI and such. Subaru isn't even the worst privacy offender. See here for more info.
- Oh no, Subaru, no. Not like this.
- Just read through that whole thing, and now I’m wondering when we’ll start seeing hacking tools to disable certain things, or diy manuals to remove the cabin microphone, etc.
  edit: or articles like “how to relocate the microphone under your seat so all they can share are farts”
  
  I pray daily to Saint Louis Rossmann for such tools.
  
  We have that already. It’s called pulling fuses.
  
  It seems like more and more there is a need for some kind of privacy inclined instructional website to come out like iFixit to tackle such things.
In Android at least, you can pair your device and not allow access to texts. Then you can have the phone read/respond, instead of the car.
Still glad I’m rolling my 2000 Honda CRV shitbox with a Sony stereo from 2010 - when Bluetooth streaming to your car was just starting to be a thing. All the cheap plastic things are showing age but at least the thing can’t spy on me.
- I have a '84 Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel. That thing will keep running after an EMP. It'll even keep running when I take the key out (I got a vac system leak somewhere). I'm going to cry when that thing dies. It's so not fussy either. Radiator instructions: "Try to use clean water."
  
  Hah. I drove an '85 300D Turbo diesel in the early 2000s. That thing was a fucking tank. I had to eventually get rid of it because the body was rusting apart. The engine still ran, and likely would have until the end of time. I extended the life a bit by bolting metal rails under the seats to keep them from falling through the car into the road.
  I had the issue with the engine still running when taking the key out as well. I would have to pop the hood and push on this kill switch thing in order to turn it off. My mechanic was able to fix it, I forget what the issue was though.
  I miss that thing.
In order for the car to access your texts you would need to pair the phone via Bluetooth and allow access to them. This is more about older systems from before Apple CarPlay and android’s equivalent where you were stuck with whatever features the car had rather than just letting your phone take over the entertainment system’s interface.
can you connect audio directly to the car with a 1/4” analog input? Or connect a Bluetooth adapter to the 1/4” input and connect to that? Can you change to a car that doesn’t have the system that reads your texts?
Yeah, buy a real car lol

22 comments