Nissan Leaf secretly leaks driver location, speed to websites
Seattle-based Casey Halverson reported,"The Leaf Carwings system is a GSM cellular connection to the internet for providing voluntary telemetry information to Nissan, new charging stations, competitive driver rankings, and even RSS feeds." But after Halverson played around with his new toy and RSS feeds, he discovered his personal location data was leaking, like longitude and latitude. His speed and destination was also secretly being "provided to any third party RSS provider you configure: CNN, Fox News, Weather Channel, it doesn't matter!"
After a bit more tinkering, he determined that his precise geographic coordinates, speed, direction, and destination was sent in clear text whether he wanted it shared or not. "There is no way to prevent this data from being sent, nor does Nissan or CARWINGS warn you that all of your location data can be flung off to random third parties." He added that Carwings provides "real-time data at that moment where you are located."
[clip]
Speaking of domestic surveillance, the Epoch Times reported, "For years now Chinese authorities have been installing spying devices on all dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles, enabling a vast network of eavesdropping." The original report in Apple Daily seemed to have disappeared, but a cache shows that a smuggler told reporters, "For every ten cars we ran we only had [smuggled goods] in three or four to reduce the risk, but the border agents caught all of them. The accuracy was unreal!"
Zheng Liming, an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong, also tore apart the "Chinese spying device" and confirmed that the signal receiving range could allow the device to listen in on conversations a little more than 12 miles (20km) away. "This device uses chips commonly found in Bluetooth and voice recording devices, designed for receiving voice transmission." Yet when a reporter confronted the Shenzhen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau with accusations of spying, the staff unsurprisingly "flatly denied the idea."
Seattle-based Casey Halverson reported,"The Leaf Carwings system is a GSM cellular connection to the internet for providing voluntary telemetry information to Nissan, new charging stations, competitive driver rankings, and even RSS feeds." But after Halverson played around with his new toy and RSS feeds, he discovered his personal location data was leaking, like longitude and latitude. His speed and destination was also secretly being "provided to any third party RSS provider you configure: CNN, Fox News, Weather Channel, it doesn't matter!"
After a bit more tinkering, he determined that his precise geographic coordinates, speed, direction, and destination was sent in clear text whether he wanted it shared or not. "There is no way to prevent this data from being sent, nor does Nissan or CARWINGS warn you that all of your location data can be flung off to random third parties." He added that Carwings provides "real-time data at that moment where you are located."
[clip]
Speaking of domestic surveillance, the Epoch Times reported, "For years now Chinese authorities have been installing spying devices on all dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles, enabling a vast network of eavesdropping." The original report in Apple Daily seemed to have disappeared, but a cache shows that a smuggler told reporters, "For every ten cars we ran we only had [smuggled goods] in three or four to reduce the risk, but the border agents caught all of them. The accuracy was unreal!"
Zheng Liming, an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong, also tore apart the "Chinese spying device" and confirmed that the signal receiving range could allow the device to listen in on conversations a little more than 12 miles (20km) away. "This device uses chips commonly found in Bluetooth and voice recording devices, designed for receiving voice transmission." Yet when a reporter confronted the Shenzhen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau with accusations of spying, the staff unsurprisingly "flatly denied the idea."
