OnStar can hear you - oh yes

[donsu]

http://www.bobbarr.org/default.asp?pt=newsdescr&RI=473

-snip-

Now, even my wife agrees that OnStar -- or similar tracking devices installed in non-GM vehicles -- would be a really bad idea. What changed her mind? In addition to the irrefutable eloquence of my arguments, it was a recent story, tucked away in an Internet news service, describing a recent federal court decision that confirms what my own conspiratorial-oriented mind always suspected was true. The FBI and other police agencies have been using these factory-installed tracking systems as a way to eavesdrop on passengers in vehicles, without the folks in the car even knowing the government was listening to their conversations! Unbelievable, you scoff? Nope, it's as real as the genetically engineered smells automobile manufacturers are now putting into their cars.

Even though the federal court decision -- rendered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers several western states, including California -- concluded that the FBI could no longer surreptitiously listen in via computerized communications systems like OnStar, it did so only for a tangential reason and therefore left the door wide open for continued invasions of privacy.

-snip-

The manner in which the FBI has been worming its way into individual vehicles equipped with one of these "emergency" communications systems requires them to temporarily disable the particular system in the "target vehicle." The targeted vehicle therefore cannot send an outgoing "emergency" signal while the eavesdroppers are "dropping in."

-snip-

Cell phones already will be required to have tracking devices installed therein, for the convenience of government employees who wish to track us and listen in on our cell phone conversations. Now we find out that automobile emergency communications systems can serve as one-way, secret phone lines directly to the FBI. We've all heard the stories that our home phones and computers serve the same purpose. As more information emerges such as the one concerning the OnStar court decision, it's getting harder and harder to dismiss these stories as "black helicopter" fantasies.
-snip-
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[bluedeminredstate]

1. I'd had the same paranoia

and for that reason swore I would never own one of these creepmobiles. Jesus H. Christ on a Crutch! Are we so fucking feeble that we can't drive without GPS and electronic maps? Are we so easily bored that we can't even pump gas or wait on the phone without having music blasting in our ears? Are we so scared of the Boogeyman that we need someone watching our every move once we leave the driveway?
I am disgusted but not surprised. We take these technologies as a birthright and never question whether they can be used for harm.

:scared:

[Mercurius]

9. I thought I was the only one

that refused to drive a car with On-Star.

[cosmicdot]

2. and, have you seen/heard the ads on TV: Donna, I love you ...

"we love you, too" ... selling this to the sheeple???

can there be too much of supposedly good thing?

[Mr.Green93]

3. can't stand their commercials

n/t

[wanderingbear]

4. This is Technologiclly possible

OnStar has an "Always Open" connection like DSL.. As lon as your online anyone can hear you.. It also uses GPS tracking so OnStar also knows where you are.. Some people are willing to sacrifice Privacy for convenance. Not me..

[Skittles]

5. people who need a satellite tracking device to open their car doors

f***ing idiots

[Hippo_Tron]

8. People who can't dial their cell phones to call for help

are f***ing idiots

[MadHound]

16. People who can't go a day without their cellphones . . .

Look, you people bitch and moan here about OnStar(with good reason) and yet here you are carrying around your on little personal GPS monitor, your cellphone. A law passed in Oct 2001 requires each and every cell phone to have a GPS tracking device in it. There's a phase in period that manufacturers have, but still, more than likely your phone now can be tracked. Here's more: <http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/tech_gadgetshtm/article691.htm >

So if you dislike being tracked, not only ditch the OnStar, ditch your cell phone. And in the near future we'll all have to ditch nearly everything not made by our own two hands, thanks to RFID(Radio Frequency ID). Hell, even our cash is going to have transmitters in it. Here's more: <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000454F9-7136-1FCF-B13683414B7F0000>. I'm just hoping these little fuckers can be taken out with a good degaussing by a strong magnet.

Face it, somebody(s) in our power structure really got into 1984 and A Brave New World, and not in a good way. Our future contains the distinct possibility that within ten years it will be virtually impossible to go anywhere or do anything without it being recorded.

[Skittles]

17. for the record, MadHound

*I* do not have a cell phone. For the life of my I cannot understand why people want to be found 24 hours a day.

[BiggJawn]

6. All run by Admiral Strangelove, right?

Poindexter the Felon at DARPA-Net with his re-named and hush-hush "Total Information Awareness"...

[Hippo_Tron]

7. It gets better...

Cell phones are going to have GPS in them so that companies can track what stores you go into.

[NoPasaran]

10. And the spooks can monitor your idiotic calls

while you're in the store.

"I'm at the store.
"They don't have the extra-thin white bread. What should I do?
"Call me back as soon as you can!"

Does Big Brother know I'm stocking up on tinfoil?

:tinfoilhat:

[pstokely]

11. Onstar is a heavy Hannity and Oxyrush advertiser

nt

[slaveplanet]

12. don't forget your Digital cable boxes

A friend of mine heavy into electronics has found microphones in these.

Now why would DiGiCa boxes need microphones?

Do they plan to issue FEMA orders to herd you to the nearest Sport Stadium rendering facility?

It's all about as baffling as the need for wireless devices in voting machines....more tinfoil you say, don't rely solely on me, check for yourselves.

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away....
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air...

[MidwestMomma]

18. You better watch out, there might be dogs about....

Is that true about the microphones? You are seriously creeping me out!

[tritsofme]

13. I share your paranoia,

When I bought my Yukon a few months back, I had the dealer remove the entire Onstar apparatus.

The last thing I need is some company, let alone the government, tracking where I am, and what I am doing.

[dbt]

14. When one is being monitored,

One has the obligation to drive those who are doing the monitoring nuts.

For instance, "Gee I wonder what God thinks about bu$h sending soldiers to die for oil while proclaiming himself a Christian," spoken in the privacy of one's Escalade might be good for three or four days of wasted time among the SS.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[classics]

15. OnStar is basically just a cell phone.

Modified to autodial a response center when you press the button. Newer models even support incoming calls.

The creepy thing is this also validates what people have suspected for a long time, that many cellular phones are able to transmit 'open mic' at the command of the cellular carrier.

How many people already walk around with a cell glued to them, or work at a desk with a cell phone sitting on it. The possibilities for corporate snooping and goverment abuse are too ripe to have ever been ignored.