See how difficult it is to disable. Some make it very difficult by integrating it into the dash screen, others have it as a separate module that can be removed without any ill effects. Plus, I know Subaru, if you call and insist, will send remote kill command to your data collection module.

Disabling of functionality and continuation of data collection.

The mass-adoption of automotive spyware started around 2019 (OnStar existed long prior to that) where a combination of cheap cell modems and bulk contracts with telecoms allowed it happen. This was sold as over-the-air updates, but really it was always-connected car that collects all your driving data. Most cars were sold with 5 or 10 year "free" plans where integration with various apps and similar IoShit features were bundled in with the car purchase. So they would entice owners to click OK when they downloaded app to monitor car door locks or to enable remote start and burred in ToS permission to sell data (which is transferred to the next owner when the car is sold). As such, it is likely that they will keep collecting data while no longer supporting any of the features that were offered to new car owners and count on people's ignorance of the fact. Some manufacturers (I know for certain Subaru does, as you can request it) have ability to send remote kill to the modem and they also have ability to blacklist SIM ICCID to disconnect them at the provider level. So once used cars get hacked into botnets etc., they will send out mass disconnect to the affected models.

They are trying to lock it down with automotive linux where according to my understanding unsigned firmware won't run.

You will have hard time finding anything like that in 2026 model year. Even economy cars today have data links via built-in cell modems.

A new type of mods now gain popularity - bypass harnesses for data collection modules (DCM). Typically disconnecting cell antenna is not enough, as test showed that connection is possible when driving close to cell towers. In most cars these DCMs can be simply unplugged or disconnected via a fuse, but sometime manufacturers integrate other functionality to make it harder to cleanly disable.

A shameful example is Toyota, that to opt out of data brokerage requires declining the Master Data Consent that turns of all connected and some local features.For example, they disable key fob remote start feature if you opt out or disable DCM. The key fob has no internet functionality, it is local radio signal.

Another shameful example is GM attempting to void warranty if you disconnect your car. This is unlikely to be legal due to Magnusonâ"Moss. The do so if the car fails to connect to Toyota's servers in the 60 day window.

Yes. Musk, for example, donated to Hillary and Obama's campaigns as late as 2015. So pause and think what since that time Democrats did to piss him off so much. Musk knew how much heat he would get for what he was doing and what is the key demographic for his Tesla business.

FUD, they are complying with court orders, as any company is obligated to do, but the data is encrypted with a key derived from your password, which they don't store. Plus, Proton natively supports PGP, which you could use on top of that.

Sorry comrade for mixing that up, good to have someone with first-hand experience to correct this.

TFA is self-contradictory. If this is about "never used" emails, then there is no concern about sensitive messages, as the only emails would be misdirected spam.

There is a lot to respond to, but "The billionaires wanted Trump." is odd statement to make. These tech oligarchs are largely California leftists naturally aligned with Democratic party. They loved Obama, they liked the idea of Biden when he run on the campaign of restoring normality (that his administration failed to implement). I really think for them backing Trump, they had to be threatened by something that Democrats were doing a lot more than anything Trump would likely do. While I have clear idea what it might be, can you think of anything?

You see Reddit user posts worth that much? This is approximately 50c per post.

We don't and we can't. More so, even in context of EVs - you can't manufacture one without significant amount of materials that are derived from petroleum.

Free market is a representation of distributed decision making, where you have hundreds of people evaluating the data and making decisions. This is clearly not happening with AI, as adoption severely lags indicating that people in general are skeptical.

I think a bunch of aging and no longer clearly thinking (and primed to believe in AI based on Science Fiction from their childhood) venture capitalists bought into false promises from Altman and the likes, made massive investments thinking this is going to be 90s and WWW all over again and now playing musical chairs with accounting tricks to try to avoid huge losses. My opinion is that Sam Altman will go down in history as Bernie Madoff of this generation.

Cities exist not because people couldn't figure out how to build houses elsewhere, but because people had reasons, like jobs, to live in the area. If you build apartment complex in the middle of nowhere, it will be occupied at the local population density regardless of the actual building capacity.

Right after they release The Communist Manifesto v2.