How do new cars connect to internet ?

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Snoots

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There's what's called a 'location-based broadcaster' that can do that. You may have received alerts on your cell phone relating to abducted children or missing elderly.
An excellent demonstration of this was made as a PSA about texting and driving called "Eyes On the Road". The video of this has been removed for some reason and I'll leave it to the conspiracy theorists to figure it out.
Damn shame too as it was a great eye opener!
Think OnStar. GM can shut down every car that has it. Thankfully, there are laws against that (unless the government says otherwise).
Cars are very difficult to hack because of the many levels of programming, each level with firewalls, to overcome. Not totally impossible but hardly worth the effort.
Older vehicles without computers are more fun to drive anyway!
 

Terry Wilkerson

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If the computer can be re-flashed and the installed wiring could handle it, satellite download might be possible. Even though it may not currently be on the car.

Could be wrong but the gov is getting into everything in our daily lives, they would want to control our cars. If the car can communicate with a cell phone, they can track it by GPS. Some police forces have found criminals using that feature.

Musk is sending up thousands of satellites to cover the earth completely.

Computer chips are the scourge of our lives. 1984 has come true in 2022.
Not trying to stir up s_ _t but if computer chips are the scourge of our lives why does everyone on this forum Cary around a chip filled cell phone?? Don't forget about your big screen TV. Not to mention medical devices that have improved our lives. In fast 99 defense nuclear bombs have chips too. Maybe he's right?
 

fast 99

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Not trying to stir up s_ _t but if computer chips are the scourge of our lives why does everyone on this forum Cary around a chip filled cell phone?? Don't forget about your big screen TV. Not to mention medical devices that have improved our lives. In fast 99 defense nuclear bombs have chips too. Maybe he's right?
People survived without cell phones, remember pay phones? I can live just fine with a 21" tube TV. Actually, I don't have a cell phone. However, it is getting harder not owning one.

Cars have gotten far too complex. We don't need 2-3 computers on a vehicle to agree before the headlamps are allowed to be turned on.

Yes, there have been medical advancements I will give you that. However, there was also Covid.

Today this country especially is watching everything a person does. Some day that may come back and haunt us. Just today it was announced any gun or ammo purchases are given a different sales code. Now why is that? The NSA has or is building a vast electronic storage complex. You can bet this comment will be stored on it.
 

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Must have computer? Chips again. I think what we are talking about is called progress and no amount of denying it will stop it. Just my opinion.
 

idahovette

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It seems as "progress" comes with a LOT of costs?.......and @fast 99 , I too have NO cell phone and I don't give a sh!t
 

Radiohead

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The biggest fear generated from all of this, is the ability for someone with the right access to brick a vehicle at will. Someone with programming experience could likely make a bricked car run again, but it would take much time and effort to do every vehicle. A skilled cyber terrorist or government hell-bent on limiting transit could cause a giant mess by making millions of vehicles inoperable at once. Everyone with vehicles old enough to be unaffected, would have to guard them with their life in such a scenario...
It's not crazy talk either.

I seem to remember jeep had that issue a couple years ago. Anyone else remember that?
It only takes one incident where direct control of the vehicle is interrupted to ruin the day of anyone else nearby
 

CheemsK1500

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Another thing people often forget is the potential threat of an EMP blast. A powerful enough blast would wreck any car's ECM, with or without a cellular connection.
 

CheemsK1500

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It's not crazy talk either.

I seem to remember jeep had that issue a couple years ago. Anyone else remember that?
I don't recall anything Jeep related, but I do know as of recently BMW can turn off certain features of a car, such as heated seats if you don't pay a subscription fee. They use the technology discussed in this thread to do it.
 

Radiohead

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Another thing people often forget is the potential threat of an EMP blast. A powerful enough blast would wreck any car's ECM, with or without a cellular connection.

I'm sorry sir, but that was debunked to the point where if an emp is taking out your computer, you will have a thermal issue overriding your ecm concerns.
 

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I'm sorry sir, but that was debunked to the point where if an emp is taking out your computer, you will have a thermal issue overriding your ecm concerns.
Fair point. If things got bad enough to a point where such weapons were used, having a running vehicle may not be the immediate concern anyway.
 

Snoots

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1984 is just the beginning.
 

fast 99

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Must have computer? Chips again. I think what we are talking about is called progress and no amount of denying it will stop it. Just my opinion.
Agree were not going back. Privacy is gone today. I don't do Facebook, Twitter or any other online crap. Really don't understand why people post personal events for everyone to see.
 

CheemsK1500

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Agree were not going back. Privacy is gone today. I don't do Facebook, Twitter or any other online crap. Really don't understand why people post personal events for everyone to see.
It's honestly one of the most devious marketing and psychological manipulation schemes in history. Social media platforms, and various internet applications make their money from selling data they collect to various outlets. There is AI algorithms in place that learn an individual user's interests and cater to it accordingly. For example, if someone talks about shoes on Facebook, they may encounter a Sketchers advertisement a few moments later.

The really frightening phenomenon that I've seen unfold in recent years is the ability to use bots (AI chat bots posing as people), controlled censorship and boost methods to make unpopular things seem popular or vice/versa. This gets used from everything to product marketing, to triggering cultural revolutions. It seems that many young adults and children let social media be the deciding factor of what is right and what is wrong, since they erroneously belive that it is a truly accurate and unfiltered view of society as a whole.
 

fast 99

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Yeah, a friend bought an Alexa. The device is always listening. He got rid of it. Heard Apple phones are the same way.
 

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