Some recent thing about VW This Leakage Fiasco set me thinking.

My current transport is thankfully a 2014 Hyundai I have the use of. Hyundai models became more electric in 2015 and there were short videos on youtube showing how to steal 2015-2021 hyundais with a usb cable until the problem was sorted.

Personally, after a career in Electonics, I want mechanical anti-theft. I don't trust electronics or software until proved secure. The company saying "It's secure" is worth nothing. OTOH, thieves saying "I haven't been able to crack one of those" is a much better guarantee.

So I'm wondering what precautions are wise, given that I don't want my tracking info on tap. Has anyone checked this out? Can we in Europe do anything under FOI & GDPR? Can the manufacturers pawn this treasure trove of data off?

I own a 2021 RAV4. When it's shut off the engine cannot be started manually without the fob(kill switch engaged). However, I heard on the news that criminals can now emulate a fob and bypass this feature. So I use a stainless steel steering wheel club. A bad guy can still saw it off maybe with a hack saw, but, it'll slow him down.

Thieves mastered recording your alarm from nearby when you locked your car, and replaying it. That often unlocked the car. But better alarm manufactures responded and made their recordings useless.

There has always been lazy attempts to outsmart devices. In my work, I encountered a 'hole in the wall' type cash dispenser that had been hacked. There was a cassette tape head to read the card, and a camera to spot the password. That was early 2000s. But the customer (a small time forensics outfit) didn't pay his bills...

Methinks this article from the EFF may be relevant to this thread.

Thanks. It had a paragraph, but then turned to tracking, marriage breakups and facilitating abusers in California.

In Europe, we have GDPR (=General Data Privacy Rights?) which means you need permission to record anyone's data. Over here, Facebook/Meta is appealing fined over a €billion in various for recording stuff it records in the Excited States, where folks just shrug their shoulders. Oh, they also shoved everyone's dirty underwear online unsecured for months or years as well.

Of course police can track you to ±5 metres from pinging cell towers. The phone will calculate on the nearest 3 (if there are 3). What I am really not enamoured of is somebody being able to print out my habitual comings and goings, and act accordingly. I see no opt-out solutions offered. Or someone being able to sell that data. It is my experience that those with few scruples will facilitate those who have none.

I put the FOB in an anti-RFID pouch when home.

On cutting & defeating anti-theft devices: The weapon of choice for thieves in these parts is battery powered angle grinders.

One thing that proved surprisingly effective is a disk lock on motor bikes. They're not invincible, but they cost precious time. They could be used on cars too.