Thread: On-Star becomes Skynet

Security Matters: I've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch

The next iteration of On-Star vehicles will come with the ability for the police to remotely control aspects of your vehicle, including turning off the engine. This ability will be extended to buses and possibly airplanes. Scary stuff ladies and gentlemen!

That's why I'm sticking with old tech and no satellite gizmos... when it comes to my car.

and they can't track me on my bike!


OnStar's had that for a while, or so I've heard.

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Security Matters: I've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch

The next iteration of On-Star vehicles will come with the ability for the police to remotely control aspects of your vehicle, including turning off the engine. This ability will be extended to buses and possibly airplanes. Scary stuff ladies and gentlemen!

Be aware that also your cell phone has GPS location information that "The Man" can use to find you as well.

I haven't heard of cell phones having GPS transmitters in them. Like GPS units for your car, most of the time they just "receive" information, nothing goes back to the satelite. The only way to use the GPS location is to have the phone relay the information via cell signal, and not many phones do that.

Cellphone signals themselves can be triangulated, but not very precisely.

Triangulated... that's what I was talking about. The cell phone instructions refere to it as
"GPS", but you are correct, it really isn't GPS.

Anyhow, here is the story I was referencing. They were able to find out the location of the person they wer looking for to at least a very closee approximation.

In this case it was for a good cause, but it made me quite aware of the many other ways it could be used/abused as well....

Not sure what it's like in the colonies what with them being so much more spacious. In the old countries, with higher population & cell-mast densities, the authorities have made no secret that they can triangulate the position of any cell phone for at least ten years. I'd keep mine turned off, if I could....

My cell phone has GPS. In fact, it comes in very handy on the golf course.

There are advantages and disadvantages with everything for sure. I see an advantage to the auto kill switch (not for airplanes!) possibly eliminating high speed chases. I've never accepted the argument that catching someone running from the law in a high speed chase is more important than the consequence of such a chase which is the endangerment of innocent human life.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Triangulated... that's what I was talking about. The cell phone instructions refere to it as
"GPS", but you are correct, it really isn't GPS.

Anyhow, here is the story I was referencing. They were able to find out the location of the person they wer looking for to at least a very closee approximation.

In this case it was for a good cause, but it made me quite aware of the many other ways it could be used/abused as well....

It could definitely be abused and I certainly don't like that either. However, a cell phone is much more dispensable than your car. I make no mystery of my location, but to have someone have external control over a moving vehicle, that's just nuts.

If cops want to disable a car, they just need my handy dandy EMP ray gun that I'm going to build someday

Originally Posted by Chrisl

There are advantages and disadvantages with everything for sure. I see an advantage to the auto kill switch (not for airplanes!) possibly eliminating high speed chases. I've never accepted the argument that catching someone running from the law in a high speed chase is more important than the consequence of such a chase which is the endangerment of human life.

Chris L

You should be happy to know that most of the responsible police agencies in this country agree with you vi a vis high speed chases.

This is a case of people giving up their freedoms yet again for a little convenience. The police have no right or need to have the remote capability to restrict the freedom of movement and therefore the potential for assembly of anyone in this country.