Big Brother on Board

NewsMax.com ^ | Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003 | Charles R. Smith

[Redcloak]

Big Brother on Board

Charles R. Smith
Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003

OnStar Bugging Your Car

Would it surprise you to find out that the FBI might be able to monitor private conversations in your car? A recent court case revealed that the FBI used the popular OnStar system to do just that.

GM cars equipped with OnStar are supposed to be the leading edge of safety and technology. OnStar has run a recent blitz of commercials citing helpless motorists calling in with every type of emergency, from a heart attack to locking the keys inside the car. In the advertising world, OnStar reacts quickly by sending help or even unlocking the car.

However, buried deep inside the OnStar system is a feature few suspected – the ability to eavesdrop on unsuspecting motorists.

The FBI found out about this passive listening feature and promptly served OnStar with a court order forcing the company to give it access. The court order the FBI gave OnStar was not something out of the Patriot Act involving international terrorism or national security but a simple criminal case.

According to court records, OnStar complied with the order but filed a protest lawsuit against the FBI.

Yet the FBI was able to enforce the original legal order and completed its surveillance because OnStar's lawsuit took nearly two years to pass through the court system.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in OnStar's favor. The ruling was not based on invasion-of-privacy grounds or some other legitimate constitutional basis. The FBI lost because the OnStar passive listening feature disables the emergency signal, the very life-saving call for help that the advertisements tout as the main reason to purchase the system.

"The precedent has been set," stated former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr.

"The grounds on which the 9th Circuit reached the decision were not on the privacy aspects of the case. Under the CALEA [Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act] laws, the FBI blocking of the emergency signal constituted a breach of the consumers’ contract."

The technical problem of blocking the emergency signal is clearly one that the FBI tech teams can overcome. Thus, under the current ruling, the FBI can resume using OnStar to monitor subject vehicles once it has solved the emergency issue.

[Redcloak]

I've always been leery of OnStar and similar systems. The thought of a system that can monitor my movements doesn't give me the warm-and-fuzzies. And now one that can listen to me in the car? It's not that I'm paranoid... But just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!

[CJ Wolf]

Glad my cars are offstar.

[newgeezer]

Just another in a long list of reasons to avoid late-model GM junk.

[retrokitten]

I don't like this either. It doesn't do anything that a map, cell phone, and a keyless entry system can't do.

[Redcloak]

It does do stolen vehicle recovery, but LoJack is the big dog in that area. And LoJack isn't a subscription service.

[Alberta's Child]

I never understood why a company like GM would go to such lengths to put a system like this in their cars. It's only a matter of time before trial lawyers start getting access to these things to determine who is at fault in an accident.

On another note, it might be a good time to sell your GM stock right now. If the presence of this "listening device" has not been clearly identified as an OnStar feature, they're going to face billions of dollars in civil damages and hundreds of millions in costs to take the damned thing out of cars that people have already purchased.

[joesnuffy]

wonder where they are made....and who makes them?

[isthisnickcool]

What's the big deal? I'm driving along Freeping on my laptop in my Chevy and those feds ain't going to mess with me! I have On-star and love it!

Hey, the brakes stopped working! Somebody is laughing on my car stereo speakers! The steering wheel is acting funny! I think I have a................................

[retrokitten]

Oh, I forgot about that one. I do have LoJack in my car, too. It's a one time fee that they just add on to your car financing (if you are buying a brand new car).

[GluteusMax]

don't like this either. It doesn't do anything that a map, cell phone, and a keyless entry system can't do.

Hate to bring this up, but your cell phone ALREADY is a passive listening device, even turned off. So long as the battery is in it, Law enforcement can listen to you conversations if they desire to.

[org.whodat]

I never understood why a company like GM would go to such lengths to put a system like this in their cars.

Simple, company needs a little more cash flow, GM hits a button and red lights tell dumb little old ladies and men to take their car in for repair. Give them a couple of grand and they will turn the lite off.

[Johassen]

I guess I never should have let the aliens put that thing in my a** either. I knew it.

[JOHANNES801]

Hell Im 50 years old and never financed a car in my life.I dont have a cumputer anywhere on my two cars.I built the engines and would drive ether one coast to coast.

[Tailgunner Joe]

[SerpentDove]

Well, if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

There, I got that little bit of bird-brainery out of the way.

[ladylib]

That person laughing on your car stereo speakers is Art Bell.

[isthisnickcool]

That person laughing on your car stereo speakers is Art Bell.

Nuh uh! He lives in the glove box.