Is Jeep tracking my mileage and everything through U-Connect?

[JRobes]

Uses a smartphone connected to WiFi to connect through an ISP to use Google to search for a forum to post about the privacy concerns of Stellantis/XMSirius sending mileage telemetry to your Mopar account. ?

I would worry about the Jeep telemetry only after I’ve addressed the following:

1. Secure your WiFi, w/ no SSID broadcast, a complex lengthy password, guest network disabled, modern encryption algorithm, disable port forwarding, disable wps, etc.,
2. Never allow any IOT device on the same WiFi network as your computers. Put them on an isolated network. Same for Alexa devices
3. Better yet, don’t use IOT devices or Alexa, Google Assistant at all or at least restrict access, data sharing, etc., in their in settings.
4. Don’t use any IP or Wyze or Ring cameras
5. Don’t use cheap internet connected products from China
6. Don’t own a Chinese made drone. If you do don’t keep it on or connected to your network. Don’t use it near anything you don’t mind the DPRC seeing.
7. Use an Apple device, not Android.
8. Turn on do not track or disable all tracking for apps
9. Turn off location settings for most, if not all apps. Allow by exception
10. Enable call blocking with your carrier, although this paradoxical gives them more access. Don’t answer unknown calls.
11. Use private relay if not a VPN
12. Dig deep into the TOS and settings of your ISP. Opt out of all tracking, data sharing/harvesting/marketing, etc. Most ISPs collect browsing meta data. Consider changing ISPs that do the least of that stuff. Don’t use Verizon
13. Do the same for cell carrier. Opt out, etc Don’t use Verizon.
14. Don’t use Google, or at least never sign in. Delete all your cookies. Google uses a persistent cookie that doesn’t require log in to work if you’ve ever logged in. Use DuckDuckGo.
15. Use an incognito window. Delete browsing history.
16. Never use your email for any account you create. Use email forwarding. Apple provides this natively now
17. Never rotate passwords. Use a password manager and ultra complex passwords, never use identifying dates, phrases, names etc in password
18. Turn off website tracking, use an ad blocker, etc.
19. Don’t use any social media, especially Meta.
20. Turn off rich media in email
21. Don’t click on links in email messages. If you get an email from your bank or other account. Call them. Don’t respond to the email.
22. Never click a link in an sms message
23. All accounts use at a bare minimum 2FA. Ideally use keys and a dongle.
24. Don’t plaster your personal views, gun ownership status, etc., on your cars bumper
25. Never open carry or do so with appropriate tactical considerations
26. Never throw away old devices. Keep or obliterate hard drives. Wipe phones before getting rid of them. Destroy old SIM cards
27. Use a paper shredder
28. Opt out of credit offer pre-screening
29. Place yourself on the Deceased Do Not Call List. The regular DNC list sometimes makes things worse.
30. Never donate or provide your email or phone number directly to political campaigns or parties, especially the GOP. <— That’s not a political statement. Vote GOP all you want. They just have a long history of selling contact info to for-profit entities. Use email forwarding again for political activities.
31. Don’t use SiriusXM
32. Don’t use Waze or Google Maps
33. Don’t use loyalty cards at stores
34. Don’t use Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Yelp, etc. or consider their intrusive policies
35. Don’t use trip advisor or other travel sites or consider their policies
36. Don’t participate in your car insurances OBDII dongle nonsense. That literally is a tracker
37. Don’t ever stay in a no-name hotel or Airbnb.
38. Monitor and or lock your credit report
39. Use Apple Pay or at least a chip card or cash
40. Never write a check
41. Don’t participate in surveys
42. Don’t respond to sweepstakes or other junk mail.
43. Don’t take online quizzes or follow clickbate. These exist for a reason, and your amusement isn’t it.
44. Never log into YouTube.
45. Routinely run a security report on your phone.
46. Never leave apps running in the background
47. Never install Facebook or any other social media app on your phone
48. Don’t post things to Internet forums. Especially anything identifiable
49. Don’t use DNA testing services
50. Don’t participate in health insurance or employer wellness programs.
51. Don’t go near anyone who hasn’t done the same things. You’re only as secure as the least secure person you’re in proximity of.
52. Don’t got near anything with a camera, like roads, intersections, storefronts, front doors, interstates, etc.

The last two are jokes. But seriously, there are cameras everywhere and many are recording. Other peoples lack of security will also affect you, whether it’s someone’s compromised device joining your WiFi network or a friend telling you about something they saw or read on the internet that is a function of whatever disinformation a series of algorithms has made available or (now with AI) produced for them.

I'd add turn off your phone wifi and Bluetooth when you're out and about, networks in stores can ping your device and to figure out who you are and where you move in the store. Though they also have camera systems with AI collecting that data as well anymore.

Saw this video a while back and was sort of a wakeup call of where we're heading.

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[TinMan2020]

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/...-too-much-personal-information-about-drivers/

This is an article from last September by CBS. They said that Nissan even somehow tracks a persons “sexual activity.”

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

This is a strawman argument of sorts. There is very little truth to the statement, other than I am using an ISP (not mine). I am on a laptop. Further, I am strictly talking about MY JEEP. It would not matter if I wanted every other thing in my life to track me, I am talking about MY JEEP. Thank you.

I get what you’re saying. I’m not sure it’s a straw man, but I’m using a rhetorical trick of sorts. Maybe it’s straw man adjacent. For the record, I do most of the things on that list or consider them and take steps aligning with my comfort level. Here’s a more clear version of my point:

Today, we’re surrounded by and use systems that continuously violate our privacy and specifically track our movements. But I find people frequently will concern themselves with some esoteric technology or service while ignoring or accepting other, more problematic services. During Covid people were worrying about “trackers in vaccines”. Beyond the silliness of that idea, are these people not concerned with the tracker they carry around in their pocket?

What is your specific concern regarding how this data is being used by Jeep, what do you think they are doing with it? I can think of some use cases they could implement technically that would be bad, I.e., sharing this data with insurance companies or law enforcement, but there’s no evidence they’re doing this. Law enforcement requires a warrant. Insurance would require opt in and account linking. I would be surprised if SiriusXM doesn’t try or wouldn’t try to use location data or mileage from our Jeeps for marketing. The problem is where they would apply that data? I don’t use a SeriousXM app. I rarely get emails from them since my free account expired. Their traffic and fuel services use location data, but they have to to work. Jeep certainly does use your mileage to tell you your warranty is going to expire and try and sell you a new one. But they do that if you take it in for service which to me is pretty benign. I’m just not seeing an obvious threat as of yet. In the future, if they start putting adds in infotainment systems or if you could like these systems to social media, etc., then yeah I think there would be a concern.

In contrast, we absolutely do know the apps running on your phone in your pocket when you drive your truck are using and sharing your location data. It’s in their TOS. It’s in the results we see when we use them. I’ve started using a VPN and I can tell you, it basically breaks apps on my devices. Google now considers my browser a bot and doesn’t work. The page no longer loads. Other search engines don’t seem to care which is telling. They want that location data. So again my question is, how specifically is the Jeep mileage data a concern?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I'd add turn off your phone wifi and Bluetooth when you're out and about, networks in stores can ping your device and to figure out who you are and where you move in the store. Though they also have camera systems with AI collecting that data as well anymore.

Saw this video a while back and was sort of a wakeup call of where we're heading.

 

[PuddleJumper]

I am not a fan of all this technology and big brother stuff. Imagine my horror when I just got an email showing the exact mileage on my new Gladiator, etc. I don't like this at all. Is there anything I can do to stop this invasion of privacy? Thank you.

i mean you signed for it. so they legally can.

The point I was trying to make in my earlier post was that if something happens to your vehicle while on trail and you walk into a dealership and shrug your shoulders and say

“I don’t know what happened I was just driving it.”

With proper authorization the dealer can hook up to your jeep and likely see that you were on a trail in Moab crawling at 2 mph at a 24° angle when that component broke.

They may not do that, but I would almost guarantee the information is there to be found. It’s up to the dealer to make a judgement call then. Be friends and nice to your service department. lol.

We’re all tracked every day. The very phone you used to start this thread is being tracked constantly it knows where you go, how fast you got there, how long you stay, what website you used, everything.

this is a fact of life these days. Not scare tactics.

If a person is stupid enough to commit a crime they find out all about this in a hurry.

agreed. Toyota had to compensate me 3 years or ago when i totaled my 11' tundra in a snow storm. i knew something failed that caused me to lose control but had no proof. turns out they have a black box of sorts and its stated an ecu failure 12 secs before impact detected/air bag deployed. apparently it had a freak failure which resulted in a pinned throttle. Insurance went to Toyota and they released a recall for specific model ECUs and paid my damages. Also had to go appeal my police report to get it declared not at fault.

On a side note having a good dealership relationship will really help you actually get your warranty even when it shouldn't cover offroad fuck ups. My dealer doesn't question why or how, they send it in as manufacturer defect and get it done.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/...-too-much-personal-information-about-drivers/

This is an article from last September by CBS. They said that Nissan even somehow tracks a persons “sexual activity.”

It’s been known for a while that Tesla’s interior cameras record and collect the driver and passengers behavior. A lot of drivers know this. Why would anyone accept that? All of this is concerning, but again it’s strange to me that this upsets the same people who give no thought to using social media and smart phones. Automakers are if anything late to the game. I’m not making the argument that we should therefore not care. I’m making the argument that all of this should be illegal without explicit positive consent whether it’s an automaker, Google. Apple, our devises or TSA.

Ever look at some picture or video on social media and then start seeing similar pictures or videos showing up without you commenting or liking the first one? One of the algorithms that’s used commonly in social media is to track the length of time you spend looking at a given picture before scrolling as it’s presented to you. This is why scrolling and flipping through posts became a thing. They use this and a myriad of other data points to build a profile to maximize your engagement, ie., dopamine hit. This all came out of neuroscience research in 07-09’. The internet works like a sophisticated designer drug. All of this shit is having profound effects on individuals and society and we don’t even know what the long term neurological effects are, especially to children. We’re starting see some things though, like rising youth suicide rates. “AI” will accelerate all of this. We’re slow walking into some kind of dystopian nightmare.

P.s. own a smart Tv with a camera on it? They’re spying on you too. All of this shit needs to be maximally regulated.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Of course physical abuse would result in a denial.... that has nothing to do with on or off road though.

True - wording means everything.
Abuse = denied.
Something broke off-road and it wasn't abuse - not denied.
You can take a Rubicon on a whole lot of tough trails and unless it's really modified or it's obvious abuse, the fact it's off road in the rocks doesn't deny warranty. Abuse, on or off-road does.
Off-road != abuse.

I'd love to see where a warranty was denied because a dealer could access information that's used for marketing purposes and see exactly where you were and decide - you were in rocks on this trail, warranty denied".
There's a lot of "I heard" or "I read" and conjecture - but the information obtained is used for marketing, product changes (they say improvements), selling to other entities for targeted ads on your phone or other places, and to see how many actually use a Jeep off road for future development. It's not like there's some big database a dealer can access. So far, no proof that any dealer actually has access to the incredible amount of data out there for denial of warranty.

Are there links to any posts where a jeep owner was denied warranty because the dealer got into your historical data and saw you in the rocks?
Even if so - they have no clue as to the EXACT location. My Jeep shows up across the road when I look for location. Other times it gets really close, but there's nothing in great detail, no photos, etc. So you were on a trail. They don't know the exact spot or event that broke something, only the forensics done in the shop can give them clues.

. Toyota had to compensate me 3 years or ago when i totaled my 11' tundra in a snow storm. i knew something failed that caused me to lose control but had no proof. turns out they have a black box of sorts and its stated an ecu failure 12 secs before impact detected/air bag deployed. apparently it had a freak failure which resulted in a pinned throttle. Insurance went to Toyota and they released a recall for specific model ECUs and paid my damages. Also had to go appeal my police report to get it declared not at fault.

At least in the past - it only recorded something like the last 60 seconds and cycles through. Maybe it's different now - but last I heard, they could only access a recent timeframe.

 

[PuddleJumper]

True - wording means everything.
Abuse = denied.
Something broke off-road and it wasn't abuse - not denied.
You can take a Rubicon on a whole lot of tough trails and unless it's really modified or it's obvious abuse, the fact it's off road in the rocks doesn't deny warranty. Abuse, on or off-road does.
Off-road != abuse.

I'd love to see where a warranty was denied because a dealer could access information that's used for marketing purposes and see exactly where you were and decide - you were in rocks on this trail, warranty denied".
There's a lot of "I heard" or "I read" and conjecture - but the information obtained is used for marketing, product changes (they say improvements), selling to other entities for targeted ads on your phone or other places, and to see how many actually use a Jeep off road for future development. It's not like there's some big database a dealer can access. So far, no proof that any dealer actually has access to the incredible amount of data out there for denial of warranty.

Are there links to any posts where a jeep owner was denied warranty because the dealer got into your historical data and saw you in the rocks?
Even if so - they have no clue as to the EXACT location. My Jeep shows up across the road when I look for location. Other times it gets really close, but there's nothing in great detail, no photos, etc. So you were on a trail. They don't know the exact spot or event that broke something, only the forensics done in the shop can give them clues.



At least in the past - it only recorded something like the last 60 seconds and cycles through. Maybe it's different now - but last I heard, they could only access a recent timeframe.

sounds about right. It was designed to record info leading up to a crash and only a certain amount. No way it could remember everything in its life, it'd run out of storage in like 2 years.

 

[JRobes]

I'm actually waiting for Google to start implementing their Soli radar/audio tracking/mapping tech into the automobile (if they haven't already) to monitor driver vitals/movements to see if they're becoming tired/lathargic or more importantly distracted while driving. Their tech can monitor movements and your heartrate/breathing all without cameras which is what most people are concerned with at the surface level, and I can imagine that insurance companies would LOVE to get their hands on this data to determine what you were doing, where your head was looking, and if you were at fault in an accident. While I'm for holding people accountable for accidents they cause, I question at what cost to the general population's privacy.

Here's an article talking to Google Nest senior product manager Ashton Udall about the Soli radar in the Nest Hub. I don't think it's a stretch to see how this could be put in a vehicle.
https://www.protocol.com/nest-hub-sleep-tracking-radar

 

[Sweetums]

I'm actually waiting for Google to start implementing their Soli radar/audio tracking/mapping tech into the automobile (if they haven't already) to monitor driver vitals/movements to see if they're becoming tired/lathargic or more importantly distracted while driving. Their tech can monitor movements and your heartrate/breathing all without cameras which is what most people are concerned with at the surface level, and I can imagine that insurance companies would LOVE to get their hands on this data to determine what you were doing, where your head was looking, and if you were at fault in an accident. While I'm for holding people accountable for accidents they cause, I question at what cost to the general population's privacy.

https://www.protocol.com/nest-hub-sleep-tracking-radar

That's already a thing for any car with autonomous driver systems or drowsy driving alerts.

 

[JRobes]

That's already a thing for any car with autonomous driver systems or drowsy driving alerts.

As far as I know those work with cameras though, whereas Google's tech would use radar/speakers/mics only. I think people are more concerned about a camera watching them than a different monitoring system that's hidden within the vehicles systems.

The Soli tech may also skirt some privacy laws that are geared towards actual camera monitoring.

And yes, this is all hypothetical, and yes some could say it's conspiracy theory stuff, but the tech is out there and if there's money to be made off it I don't see why it wouldn't be implemented.

 

[TinMan2020]

True - wording means everything.
Abuse = denied.
Something broke off-road and it wasn't abuse - not denied.
You can take a Rubicon on a whole lot of tough trails and unless it's really modified or it's obvious abuse, the fact it's off road in the rocks doesn't deny warranty. Abuse, on or off-road does.
Off-road != abuse.

I'd love to see where a warranty was denied because a dealer could access information that's used for marketing purposes and see exactly where you were and decide - you were in rocks on this trail, warranty denied".
There's a lot of "I heard" or "I read" and conjecture - but the information obtained is used for marketing, product changes (they say improvements), selling to other entities for targeted ads on your phone or other places, and to see how many actually use a Jeep off road for future development. It's not like there's some big database a dealer can access. So far, no proof that any dealer actually has access to the incredible amount of data out there for denial of warranty.

Are there links to any posts where a jeep owner was denied warranty because the dealer got into your historical data and saw you in the rocks?
Even if so - they have no clue as to the EXACT location. My Jeep shows up across the road when I look for location. Other times it gets really close, but there's nothing in great detail, no photos, etc. So you were on a trail. They don't know the exact spot or event that broke something, only the forensics done in the shop can give them clues.



At least in the past - it only recorded something like the last 60 seconds and cycles through. Maybe it's different now - but last I heard, they could only access a recent timeframe.

I don’t care what you say. I’m wrapping my engine in tinfoil tonight.

 

[Sweetums]

I think Volvo had a heart rate detector way back in the mid-late 2000s. I have a family member with an XC70 and it has a feature on the fob that will detect if there's a heartbeat in the car.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I don’t care what you say. I’m wrapping my engine in tinfoil tonight.

LOL - go for it!

Ironic - I can't use the find my Jeep feature if it's in the garage, and if it's out front, it says it's across the road at some address that doesn't even exist, but I can tell down to the section of parking spots where it is at some other places.
The NAV has me going across I235 on streets that haven't existed since the 1970s when the freeway went in when I want to get to some parts of Des Moines. Even Google has me taking really rough back streets to get to one address - and I should have been on the freeway with double the speed limit and smooth concrete to get to the same place. So how accurate is this stuff, really? Not very........

Oh, honestly - you do know about wrapping your key fob or at least protecting it so it can't be hijacked....... so wrapping with foil - maybe there's something to that.
What if you pulled the roof off and covered that antenna up there with foil? No need to move it - heck, the stuff where i live blocks the signal, can't be that tough to block it with a piece of 2 cent foil over the antenna.

it's absolutely crazy that in order to use the "nice to have" features that you have to agree to 10 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo that even a good attorney would need a few minutes to decipher.
I say - let those who don't care agree and keep the features and those who don't like that stuff disagree and still keep most if not all of the features.

I think Volvo had a heart rate detector way back in the mid-late 2000s. I have a family member with an XC70 and it has a feature on the fob that will detect if there's a heartbeat in the car.

So, what happens - the brakes are applied, car pulls onto the shoulder and shuts down if there's no heart beat? It would really be a mess with my low heart rate most of the time.

Play a little Huey Lewis in that thing - really get it freaked out...........

 

[Sweetums]

So, what happens - the brakes are applied, car pulls onto the shoulder and shuts down if there's no heart beat? It would really be a mess with my low heart rate most of the time.

No, as you walk up to your car at night you press a button on the fob, the lights do a little dance and then it will either blink green or red - green is there's no one hiding in the back seat to carjack you, red is the car detects a heartbeat inside the car.

It's for pearl-clutching suburban housewives, nothing more. I don't think my family ever used it after the car was purchased.

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