Volkswagen tracking firm sued for refusing to find stolen SUV with kidnapped boy
wgntv.com
wgntv.com
> In a statement released last February, Volkswagen said it has a procedure in place with a third-party provider for Car-Net support services to help with emergency requests from law enforcement.
> “Unfortunately, in this instance, there was a serious breach of the process,” the statement read. “We are addressing the situation with the parties involved.”
So the refusal was at a first glance a humam error rather than company policy regarding sharing of private data with authorities.
Multi-billion dollar companies need to be held to higher standards than "we got a piece of paper around here that says we won't do that"
Had an epiphany, opened my Uconnect app and called to restart my GPS service and they wouldn't do it. Or they said if they did it wouldn't find it that night or something. I forget exactly what it was, maybe the Jeep had to be turned on or it was just a 24 hourish delay. I just remember getting annoyed and walking for another 45-2hrs until I finally found it.
This was before google/apple maps had the parked here feature.
You just can't win.
Stop putting tracking devices that you control in other people's vehicles, if you don't want the liability of it.
This is the same sort of argument used to get rid of encryption, among many other privacy invasions.
If you want to put a tracker in your car, that's up to you. Should the federal government mandate trackers in every car so they can always find any vehicle?
"Think of the children!"
I am thinking of the children. Having some semblance of life outside of Big Brother's watchful eye is essential for the children.
This is a red herring. The federal government doesn't mandate this. You said "if you want to put a tracker in your car, that's up to you." People are choosing to put trackers in their cars.
Honestly, as someone who is fairly strict on matters of privacy, I'm fine with a tracker in my car. I don't drive it that often. And when I do, it's around town.
I'm arguing against a comment that implied tracking is good, even if it is controlled by others, because it might save a child. The best version of such a system is if it is owned by the government, not some company trying to make money off of it, so that's the version I decided to argue against.
That's not a red herring. It's steelmanning.
A private company. From whom a person decided to buy a car. Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Nissan make cars without trackers or even GPS. That's obviously not most consumers' preference.
> best version of such a system is if it is owned by the government
I strongly disagree. That said, if someone wants to install a government tracking device on their car, I suppose I'm not against it. (Didn't you start by arguing against mandated surveillance?)
Yes. That’s the point of steelmanning. Put forward the best argument of your opposition. Then tear it down.
It's hard to find a reliable car. Last time I dug into the subject it was a stress-nightmare
The main issue I'd be concerned about are LEOs (or other government actors with access to LEO databases) abusing that system.
> the family claim Volkswagen refused to assist authorities
An abusive spouse wouldn't usually ask the police to track someone down. I also assume the request was off the back of an official missing persons/kidnapping charge.
Also, parents of a child would have rights to the location of their children a spouse or partner wouldn't, outside a missing persons report.
This is a service available on the obvious scene boards. It’s classic social engineering, and I bet it works for these car tracking services too.
Jailtime should be the only answer.
Legit I'm gonna crack a bottle of champagne the day that holding companies criminally liable for their criminal acts becomes the norm. Remember if it's punishment is only a fine not jailtime its a law for the poor.
The firm involved in this should have its board thrown in jail (vw and their contractor). Holding investigative information related to a crime hostage to a fee is criminal enough. Board members and managing directors should cop jail time. Basically anyone from the point of command who said "no! pay up" north. jailtime.
But provisions protecting consumers from companies is weak so unlikely to happen.
I'm very curious what the process is. Can anyone call up the main support line and say they are law enforcement? Or is there some special number and then some way the caller can identify themselves as law enforcement. e.g provide a one-time code that is pulled up from some app in their squad car.
In reality social engineering is a thing. Likely you need to get past the first-line support to someone who has authority.
article not available in VW country
Considering all news is engineered for maximum outrage, I wonder what the reality of the situation is from VW's side.
Did Volkswagen refuse to assist, or was compliance not possible because the tracker wasn't active due to nonpayment?
If the tracker wasn't active, it's unsettling that it could be activated with an exigent-circumstances request. Those don't even need a warrant.
But if they had the data and refused to share it, VW was rent-seeking during a fucking hostage situation involving a baby. I don't put anything past anybody but that seems too monstrous to believe.
VW continues to eat shit for the emissions scandal, but the media has historically been way more dishonest than VW.
> “Unfortunately, in this instance, there was a serious breach of the process,”
Outsourcing support to third party call centers is a bad idea for anything important.
Christ.
Obviously the call center did this. Pretty typical.
In any case, I have an Airtag in my car. It's pretty good. Maybe I should just wire in an old iphone on a data SIM.