[Bob J]

First I heard of this.

[Sir Gawain]

Hackers may soon become a valuable commodity.

[CDHart]

Thanks for posting this -- it makes sense. I've often wondered if our Dish satellite could provide 2-way communication, which in a sense, it aleady does. If you want to order a movie, you just key it in using the remote. It wouldn't be difficult, I'm sure, to enable it to broadcast whatever is said in the house. (Now donning tinfoil hat!)

Carolyn

[Humbug]

This reminded me of an Asimov quote: "The advance of civilisation is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy." -Asimov, Foundation's Edge

It's only going to get worse as technology continues to improve (see nanotechnology).

[The Turbanator]

"Bring it on!"

[Skooz]

bump for when the caffeine kicks in.

[Revelation 911]

"guns dont kill people - the government does"

[HitmanLV]

Privacy is important, of course.

I have no idea though if there are enough people to listen to everybody, though. At any given time there must be more people out in the population than are available to listen to all those people.

I wonder what would make a guy like me, for example, particularly interesting to listen to conversations in my car, in light of the fact that I am almost always alone in my car.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...first I heard of this...

...and I'll bet only one in a thousand Americans know of it, too.

But they'll find out. The FBI must be crazy to trash their goodwill with this kind of sneaky, Stasi-like 'intelligence' gathering. Do they want an ATF-type image? But I blame Ashcroft, who is leaving a legacy of infrastructure which will be abused in ways we can't even imagine, under the next Dem administration.

[stuartcr]

Just don't pay for the OnStar service. As for the GPS devices in your cell phone, disconnect the battery except when you want to make a call, or use an old phone with no GPS.

[Iowa Granny]

Well, I live in a remote area and drive alone at night alot. We are in a hilly area where cell phones are not always dependable.

Furthermore, I am not involved in any type of illegal activity, so I have absolutely nothing to hide. I am quite happy with my On Star, and I do not fear eavesdropping. I am not concerned about my Dish TV eavesdropping on me either.

When you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. I am not ready to believe the world is full of crooks and criminals who discuss their next 'job' in cars and in their homes.

[wtc911]

Always suspected this...we don't even use EZ Pass. Not paranoid, we just think we should hold onto as much of our privacy as we can.

We also go to the beach and shovel sand against the tide.

[eyespysomething]

People are worried about the Patriot Act, when they should be worried about many other things.

* sigh *

The government can do what it wants at this point. Its too big to be stopped.

[CholeraJoe]

Well, I'll be...

Time to take the framing hammer to the On-Star panel in the Monster Truck.

[peteram]

"Uh, sir, I've got the gray Chevy Impala on the line. Care to listen?"
"Sure, Corporal, turn up the volume......"

"Hey you stupid jerk!!! Where'd you get your license, a Cracker Jack box?!? Get out of my way, you slow a**! Why don't you just drive that heap to the next scrap yard!"

[taxed2death]

cell phones on "standby" as well as when they are turned "on" are also personal tracking devices.

just ask Pablo Escobar.

[Myrddin]

First generation OnStar units used a 5 watt AMPS phone with a simple 103 AFSK modem and a GPS. The car could be called and a command sent to retrieve the GPS or unlock the doors. I haven't seen the hardware for the current OnStar devices, but I'm certain it includes a new CDMA cellular phone, an in-band modem whose supplier shall remain nameless and a GPS. In addition, the new OnStar gear has access to the vehicle networks to permit door unlock and query of the diagnostic modules (similar to what a service shop can do). Remote engine diagnostics capability is interesting to fleet owners. Ditto for the theft recovery. Most people buy OnStar for roadside assistance.

[FierceDraka]

I've gotten by just fine for a long time without any eye-in-the-sky electronic nanny to watch over me. And I see no reason to start using one now.

I also prefer using a revolver over an automatic. Go figure. ;-)

[wayoverontheright]

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!

This is a little bit sensationalist. I work for GM, am familiar with this technology, NONE of the voice communication takes place over satelite, it is all cellular. Our cell phone conversations have been subject to FBI eavesdropping from the beginning, Barr even seems to be implying that our conversations WITHIN THE CAR, with the OnStar inactivated, can be heard using OnStar, and this is absurd.

The voice communication is completely separate from the GPS function.

[kerouacbal]

This is no big deal when you think about how all telecommunication switches have been manufactured with a built in taping device. It is no big secret that the government can listen in to every phone call made from anywhere on the planet to another. They have access to every telecommunication companies switch's with the companies knowledge. If you don't know what a switch is I'll tell you. A switch is a device that hold information on all phone #'s in it and has a connection to every other switch in the globe thru other switches. When you make a phone call from you house you get dial tone from a switch. When you punch in the # you want to call the switch makes a connection from it's self to the switch that holds the # you are calling. Do you have caller ID? If so as a telecommunication employee I can turn that on and off you in the switch with your #. The government can tap in thru a monitor port in the switch without you knowing. There is not even a way for you to find out if they are taping you. Don't think those devices you can hook up to your phone line can detect it. They can't. This is not what you have seen in moves where a tech hooks up alligator clips to a connection box. This type of taping is completely undetectable. The same is true for the internet since the connections to the web are thru phone lines. And again there is no easy out like "I have a cable or satellite modem". Your cable or satellite company has it's own connection to the internet thru guess what? A switch. I believe if you do a little research you will find that in the late 80's or early 90's the French government advised the world that the USA's NSA has the capability to listen to every call made in the world. The NSA does not have the most powerful computer on the planet with out a reason.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Some of us figured out right away that anything with GPS installed allows the government to track you. This is almost a no-brainer. Don't want to be tracked? Don't buy anything with GPS installed and turn off your cell phone when you're not expecting any calls.