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orthoclad

(4,728 posts)
4. If you pair your phone with a rental,
Tue Jul 26, 2022, 07:12 PM
Jul 2022

the rental car computer can store your data. Contacts, etc. This is one of the many reasons I don't like smart phones. I use an old fogey flip phone with buttons that only makes phone calls.
About a year ago, WaPo published an article about phones and rentals. They were assisted by a white hat hacker. They rented a car and extracted data for SEVENTY past renters. I didn't find that article right away, but I found this below. Sounds like the same project.
https://protectme.blog/devices/connecting-your-phone-to-a-rental-car/

"After hacking into an infotainment system they discovered:

unique identifiers for previously connected phones;
detailed log of phone calls;
text messages;
photos; and
and entire contact lists including other people’s names, address, and emails."

A black hat hacker could rent a car for a day and get a trove of data.

This is a related article on WaPo:
]https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/17/what-does-your-car-know-about-you-we-hacked-chevy-find-out/
"Among the trove of data points were unique identifiers for my and Doug’s phones, and a detailed log of phone calls from the previous week. There was a long list of contacts, right down to people’s address, emails and even photos."

Be wary about pairing a phone with a rental car. Once you return it, it still holds your data. I bet there's something in the rental contract fine print about this. Maybe not.
This isn't even a free service, but:
"If the service is free, YOU are the product."
We are all data mines for the monetizers.

Play the radio. Use the phone when you're not driving.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Don't know if you can use the account in a rental. IggleDuer Jul 2022 #1
If you can connect your phone via Bluetooth Docreed2003 Jul 2022 #2
Connect the phone to the car liberal N proud Jul 2022 #3
If you pair your phone with a rental, orthoclad Jul 2022 #4
That's really good information! Beatlelvr Jul 2022 #5
Good idea. orthoclad Jul 2022 #6
Sirius app CloudWatcher Jul 2022 #7
Latest Discussions»Help & Search»Computer Help and Support»Okay, I have a question a...»Reply #4