[ParisTNDude]

I don't really care if they can track my car. I am sure there are some folks who found it very convenient to have their stolen car tracked. I understand there were huge complaints from many when OnStar put out a memo that said something to the effect that even if you did not subscribe to OnStar, they would continue monitoring your car. There was such a furor from GM car owners that OnStar is now able to be disabled. I never tried to do so, but I think they must now comply if you tell them to turn it off. I don't really care.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by ParisTNDude

I don't really care if they can track my car. I am sure there are some folks who found it very convenient to have their stolen car tracked. I understand there were huge complaints from many when OnStar put out a memo that said something to the effect that even if you did not subscribe to OnStar, they would continue monitoring your car. There was such a furor from GM car owners that OnStar is now able to be disabled. I never tried to do so, but I think they must now comply if you tell them to turn it off. I don't really care.

In the world of stolen Camaro's less than 10% have been found by onstar. Thieves immediately disable it before the wheels are even rolling. The location of the module in the 6th gen is easy to get to as well. Do not count it as a stolen car locator. GM should have burried it deeper.

[nearwater]

I'm not sure what has changed since I left the supplier(for OnStar modules), but up until Gen9 modules, you could simply unplug the GPS, CDMA antenna connectors and still retain the Bluetooth functionalities.

Sometimes, the modules can still acquire signals even with the antenna disconnected.
Then wrap the module with aluminum foils. Seriously.

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Don't want OnStar? Then tell GM you want the service cancelled. It really is that simple folks. GM has far better things to do with its time, money, and resources than secretly monitoring tens of millions of cars.

They do collect data for marketing and reselling purposes but as stated, it's not personal. For example, they know which vehicles are in which markets and as such, can generate demographic data for themselves or sell the information to marketing companies such as Alliance Data. Want to know where to put up a speed shop? Open a fast food franchise? Open a high end brokerage? These decisions are made in part, using data from collection tools such as Onstar.

Anytime there is an opportunity to collect data samples in today's business, it's done. I've done some work with Alliance Data and the public would be shocked as to how consumer behavior is tracked and monetized. It's a billion dollar game.....

[63falcondude]

After delivery of my car, the dealer offered to set up onstar. I declined and explained why I didn't want it. Then I think that I signed something saying that I declined it (don't remember exactly). I have never heard anything from Onstar and have never been bothered by it.

[fastball]

Here's the details on how to remove the transceiver board without losing the bluetooth microphone:

http://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=467634

[Jeb114]

Sorry I fell into the black helicopter page. Tin foil hats for everyone....

[hazy]

this will probably get buried, but if you're able to locate the onstar box, you can replace it with this and completely eliminate OnStar from the vehicle.

http://www.costartech.com/pb/products/bluestar.html

[fastball]

Originally Posted by hazy

this will probably get buried, but if you're able to locate the onstar box, you can replace it with this and completely eliminate OnStar from the vehicle.

http://www.costartech.com/pb/products/bluestar.html

Or you can simply remove the transponder like I linked and accomplish the same thing for free.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

Originally Posted by Jeb114

Sorry I fell into the black helicopter page. Tin foil hats for everyone....

LOL I don't have a problem with on star, but I do find it foolish for people to rely on it for security, when it is so easily disabled. Too many threads over the years with posters telling the OP's to call onstar to locate it. In the bay area the car is already stripped and left as a shell on a back street in Oakland. On Star has NEVER located a single one, and there were hundreds taken and stripped.

Only chance of finding anything was to surf craigslist ads and see some of the parts being sold.

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by Hylton

They do collect data for marketing and reselling purposes but as stated, it's not personal. For example, they know which vehicles are in which markets and as such, can generate demographic data for themselves or sell the information to marketing companies such as Alliance Data. Want to know where to put up a speed shop? Open a fast food franchise? Open a high end brokerage? These decisions are made in part, using data from collection tools such as Onstar.

Anytime there is an opportunity to collect data samples in today's business, it's done. I've done some work with Alliance Data and the public would be shocked as to how consumer behavior is tracked and monetized. It's a billion dollar game.....

And this is why Google is worth 600 Billion $.

[Norm Peterson]

So if my behavior as a consumer is worth something, perhaps I should get paid for allowing that behavior to be tracked. Instead of it effectively being me that would be paying for some of my own behavior to be tracked as in the case with OnStar and similar systems.


Norm

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

So if my behavior as a consumer is worth something, perhaps I should get paid for allowing that behavior to be tracked. Instead of it effectively being me that would be paying for some of my own behavior to be tracked as in the case with OnStar and similar systems.


Norm

Yes, just like google.

[cellsafemode]

Originally Posted by Number 3

Yes, just like google.

in the case personal info sent to google. You get search, google maps, hangouts, dozens of services that run the internet and dozens of companies owned and run by a company that could be infinitely worse.

In the case of GM what are you getting in return for your information? I'm not getting anything.

Because you allow one company access to your info doesn't mean you have to be ok for any company to have that access. Especially not companies that are incentivized to use that information to drive costs up for consumers rather than down.

In the case of security, onstar is an always on connection i can't turn off when i want to or not. If a security flaw is out in the wild, my choice is to pull a fuse until GM sends out a fix (they took 5 years to fix the last security flaw) and in the meantime i lose functionality i may actually be using that has nothing to do with onstar but is inexplicably tied to it (the microphone).

It's funny how conditioned we've been at just accepting poor security (or none at all). Almost to the point where demanding that security be taken seriously paints you as a bad guy. That's some strong backwards programming.

I dont care if it's datalogging locally. I dont trust a company that previously used a sequence of analog tones (yes, like old school payphones, security literally spoofed with a whistle) to authenticate for an onstar connection to have fixed the problem correctly. Kill that and the wifi (which is probably more easier to hack given the amount of backdoors in consumer wifi routers discovered every month) and the only thing i'll have to worry about is someone skimming my keyfob signal.