It's likely they collect cell tower and WiFi data too, so they probably have rough position data for the vehicle anyway, not exactly precise but precise enough. I have used similar data to track items.

Original car had zero security, could be started with a screwdriver, update means if locked with remote central locking then car will refuse to start until unlocked with remote.

It may upload data when antenna reconnected. By dealer plugging in a cable to odb port they can pull a lot of data. Certain data such as seat belt status is known by abs module. Before computers the speedo would log crash speed by sticking at the speed displayed during a crash. The last speed could be used by first responders to estimate injury and for police to investigate speeding causing a crash. That was mechanical so many old speedos do this.

All the ideas sound great but... This is easier than a tow truck, they use tow trucks when they can't start car easily. They often jam cellular gps tracking and remove tracking sim cards. They know exactly how to disable standard trackers. For cars with cryptographically secure systems they remove the ecu computer and replace it with one they brought along. This makes sense for specific high value cars and less suspicious than a tow truck. In other cases they break into the house and steal the keys. In some cases they slide a fishing rod in the mail slot and hook the keys from hallway table. In other cases they use key extender hardware to get the genuine keys to talk to the car even though they are still in the house. Thus the car sees the genuine valid key, even though key may be inside house. Most of these methods are not fixed by encryption, secure key exchange. So it's a harder problem to fix than most imagine and any working solution will have teams trying to crack it, be it locksmiths who want to supply aftermarket keys or thieves who want to steal brand new cars. Having physical access to both car hardware and often proximity or access to keys makes it difficult to prevent a determined opponent.

It's a sad day for the internet in Ireland. Yes there are ways around censorship, but the more governments try to control the internet the more they damage the whole point of it. Remember censorship is considered a fault by the internet and it automatically attempts to re-route the traffic. It will also affect jobs as no-one will want to set up a site based here, nor on Amazon's european cloud, which is based here, for fear they could be taken offline by some wide ranging vague complaint by rights holders, which we have already seen overstep their ability to actually remove actual content. Of course rather than remove content based in Ireland they will also attempt to block foreign content. Not ideal if you want to do business worldwide

Unless people's credit cards have been compromised there is no proof and this is just scaremongering. Every time you send an email or receive an email your email address goes through hundreds of servers/routes. If any one of these is compromised then they can keep a copy of every email address and who it came from. Using this info they can create customised spam. If they really had access to the secure part of the site would they not use the valuable info? So your email address is known to spammers, this does not mean your card is compromised. Even is spammers got access to the email address of account holders from the companies servers, it does not automatically mean they got full access. However based on the comments, it may be that it's just recently been compromised and if I had an account I'd change/remove my credit card details for a while just in case. However if it has already been compromised changing you details now will do little, better to keep an eye for fraud on your card. xx

In our hackerspace http://www.tog.ie/ we have about 30 members paying 50 euro ($66) with reduced rate for unemployed. We still are tight on finance. As every club or group we reply a lot on a few members that do most of the work and are key. If they leave the whole group would fall apart. The secrets to our continued success: Making up good specifications on what the space needs such as location and facilities. Location is always a problem but your never going to make everyone happy. Finding a space with low rent but good size and features Having cash in the bank for deposits and emergencies Agreeing to short leases so we could move to larger space as we grew. To answer your questions, our funds do not buy tools or fund projects .Sometimes members contribute seperately if they are interested. The membership is for rent and bills only. We purchased a 3D printer kit and thought we would be able to rent time on the machine but it wasn't used that much. It was a good cool device for bringing to events to promote the hackerspace. Even though we have 30 members normal events only have about 5 members as many members don't attend which is normal for any hackerspace. Most members just use the social side and don't do much actual hacking in the space. Have movie nights or social nights with no specific theme. These work great. We are gaining about 1 person every 2 months and we have 2 open social nights per month. Volounteers run one or two classes per season open to the public and we get a little money from this but the main benefit is to get the word out that we exisit and we have had many new members through this route. Set up standing orders or bank tranfers for membership as this eases the burden of collecting the money especially for members that don't attend regularly. Naturally keep a close eye on you finances. Have a few months rent in reserve and budget carefully for electricity etc. Don't commit to more rent than you safely pay even if your space ends up a bit small or in a bad location. Only listen to the views of people actually paying as lots of people will give hot air without putting their hand in their pockets.