Law Enforcement Has Been Using OnStar, SiriusXM, To Eavesdrop, Track Car Locations For More Than 15 Years

from the no-amount-of-premium-gasoline-will-buy-loyalty dept

Thomas Fox-Brewster of Forbes is taking a closer look at a decade-plus of in-car surveillance, courtesy of electronics and services manufacturers are installing in as many cars as possible.

Following the news that cops are trying to sweat down an Amazon Echo in hopes of hearing murder-related conversations, it's time to revisit the eavesdropping that's gone on for years prior to today's wealth of in-home recording devices.

One of the more recent examples can be found in a 2014 warrant that allowed New York police to trace a vehicle by demanding the satellite radio and telematics provider SiriusXM provide location information.

In this case, SiriusXM complied by turning on its "stolen vehicle recovery" mode, which allowed law enforcement to track the vehicle for ten days. SiriusXM told Forbes it only does this in response to search warrants and court orders. That may be the case for real-time tracking, but any location information captured and stored by SiriusXM can be had with nothing more than a subpoena, as this info is normally considered a third-party record.

It's not just satellite radio companies allowing cops to engage in surreptitious tracking. OnStar and other in-vehicle services have been used by law enforcement to eavesdrop on personal conversations between drivers and passengers.

In at least two cases, individuals unwittingly had their conversations listened in on by law enforcement. In 2001, OnStar competitor ATX Technologies (which later became part of Agero) was ordered to provide "roving interceptions" of a Mercedes Benz S430V. It initially complied with the order in November of that year to spy on audible communications for 30 days, but when the FBI asked for an extension in December, ATX declined, claiming it was overly burdensome.

[...]

In 2007, the OnStar system in a Chevrolet Tahoe belonging to a Gareth Wilson in Ohio contacted OnStar staff when an emergency button was pushed. As noted in a 2008 opinion from the case, Wilson was unaware the button had been hit. Subsequently, an OnStar employee heard the occupants discussing a possible drug deal, and allowed an officer from the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office to listen to the conversation. When the vehicle was located and searched, marijuana was found and an indictment filed days later. Ironically, the suspect hadn't even signed up to the OnStar service, but it hadn't been switched off.

The 2001 case didn't end well for law enforcement. It wasn't that the court had an issue with the eavesdropping, but rather that the act of listening in limited the functionality of the in-car tech, which the court found to be overly-burdensome.

OnStar is also asked to engage in real-time tracking by law enforcement. While OnStar denies it collects location info, it too has a stolen car recovery mode that allows OnStar to track vehicles. OnStar also says it will only do this in response to warrants and court orders -- or unless "exigent circumstances" necessitate the bypassing of these constitutional protections. What OnStar definitely won't do is let the public know how many times law enforcement has asked to track vehicles. The company told Forbes it "doesn't release the number of these requests."

Plenty of vehicles come with built-in GPS-reliant devices, most of which perform some sort of data retention. Anything not considered to be "real-time" can be obtained without a warrant, thanks to the incredibly-outdated Third Party Doctrine. Private conversations can be captured and recorded with warrants, which makes a large number of vehicles on the road confidential informants on standby.

Courts have generally been sympathetic to law enforcement use of in-car technology, finding the use of built-in "tools" to be less intrusive than officers installing their own devices on suspects' vehicles. Certainly law enforcement finds these pre-equipped listening/tracking devices more convenient as well.

The expansion of in-car tech has led to a great many opportunities for law enforcement, at the expense of privacy expectations. While drivers certainly can't "reasonably" expect their travels on public roads to be "private," the collection of location data by third parties basically puts drivers under constant surveillance, relieving law enforcement from the burden of actually having to dedicate personnel, vehicles, and equipment to this task. And if cops can't get this location info from in-dash systems, they can probably grab it from the drivers' cell phone service providers.

Law enforcement may find encryption to be slowing things down in terms of accessing cell phone contents, but everything else -- from in-car electronics to the Internet of Things -- is playing right into their hands.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: locations, onstar, police, privacy, surveillance, tracking
Companies: onstar, siriusxm


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    metalliqaz (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 10:57am

    How does SiriusXM track cars? As far as I know, satellite radio is entirely a 1-way technology.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:12am

      Re:

      As explained in the article, they turned on the stolen car tracker. This is a system capable of tracking a limited number of cars, hence its on demand nature.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        AEIO_ (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 5:22pm

        Re: Re:

        "This is a system capable of tracking a limited number of cars"

        But there are only a finite number of cars on the road. Maybe they need to bill the government for a slight equipment upgrade.

        Then we wouldn't have any of these pesky limits.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2017 @ 1:09am

          Re: Re: Re:

          The system is designed to be an on demand vehicle locater, to aid recovery of stolen vehicles, rather than a tracking system for all vehicles. Why should it have the capacity to track all vehicles all the time, other than as a means of spying on drivers?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:27am

      Re:

      How does SiriusXM track cars?

      In this case, SiriusXM complied by turning on its "stolen vehicle recovery" mode,...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:55am

        Re: Re:

        In this case, SiriusXM complied by turning on its "stolen vehicle recovery" mode,...

        Is that an optional feature, or only available in cars with built-in SiriusXM receivers? (I can't view the paywalled article.) Or is it something that's in every XM radio?

        Does it send to the satellite? Or is it some separate channel (cell network) that could maybe be blocked?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      zerosaves (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:47am

      Re:

      SiriusXM does more than just sat-radio, providing a similar service to OnStar(GM) to other vehicle manufactures.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Alphonse Tomato, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:53am

        Re: Re:

        SiriusXM does more than just sat-radio, providing a similar service to OnStar(GM) to other vehicle manufactures.

        If you've got Sirius radio, does that mean you've got the tracker as well? Is it time to clip the antenna lead (I'd rather listen to mp3s anyhow)?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          zerosaves (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:58am

          Re: Re: Re:

          I don't think so. I believe its a separate entity, different technologies, built into vehicles. But I'm not 100% sure how their radio works, don't use it.

          http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=244621875

          "As of November 4, 2013, Sirius XM Connected Vehicle Services Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Sirius XM Holdings Inc."

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Zorb, 19 Jan 2017 @ 1:21am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Right. Sirius XM Telematics uses cellular for its communications. The satellite radio service is a one way system, as is GPS. To be tracked "by GPS", a vehicle or other thing must have a way to return its GPS locations to the service that is tracking it. In 95% of cases, this return link is cellular, though there are other methods that use other radio systems, as well as local storage of the information on a memory unit to be retrieved later.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:19am

    The benefits of IoT and smart stuff (including cars) are quickly being overshadowed by human need to stalk others it seems. Make my stuff dumb please.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:23am

      Re:

      Are you suggesting that the boys in blue are stalkers?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:25am

      Re:

      "benefits of IoT and smart stuff"

      I'm not seeing it. IoT has little if any benefit for me (who needs internet in their fridge?) Soon IoT will be mandatory ... for your benefit of course.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 12:25pm

        Re: Re:

        IoT has little if any benefit for me (who needs internet in their fridge?)

        30 years ago I said "who needs a phone in their car?", but now almost everyone is carrying around a tracking device for what I deem a small convenience. In a decade you may be wondering how people shopped before fridge-cams.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2017 @ 9:48am

          Re: Re: Re:

          "In a decade you may be wondering how people shopped before fridge-cams."

          My fridge-cam automatically reorders drugs from my drug dealer when my supply is low. Doesn't yours?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        DannyB (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 1:58pm

        Re: Re:

        Another problem with IoT is the T will usually outlast the component doing the I. That is, your smart toaster will toast long after the computer part of it breaks, is obsolete, or unsupported.

        Similarly, your fridge will probably last 20 years, but the "smart" part of it will be obsolete, or unsupported in 3 to 5 years.

        Ditto smart TVs.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 5:51pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          I'm sure your fridge will somehow have to login in order to keep your food at the right temp. It may be the fridge version will no longer be supported or maybe the fridge servers are taken down ... it will cause you to either purchase another fridge (which is what they want) or hack the thing (which is what they despise). Given that they refuse to pay a living wage, I'm guessing most people will pay someone to hack it if they can not.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          nerd bert (profile), 18 Jan 2017 @ 8:51am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Similarly, your fridge will probably last 20 years, but the "smart" part of it will be obsolete, or unsupported in 3 to 5 years.

          You haven't bought a modern fridge have you? Between the high speed compressors and the reliability of modern capacitors 20 years is a pipe dream. (FWIW, the NAHB reports that the average lifetime of new fridges in the last 30 years has declined to under 13 years.)

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            William Thomson, 19 Jan 2017 @ 2:38am

            Re: long life fridges

            I have a second hand 1986 model Kelvinator that is still going. Fortunately I have been able to fix it myself (defrost relay and freezer fan) and parts have been available, but I suspect the parts supply will dry up, if it hasn't already.

            The one before that was a 1950s model that worked until 1995. The handle broke long ago and you had to press a stone or piece of hardwood against the stem of the lever to open it.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      AEIO_ (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 5:34pm

      Re:

      There's an Android app my GF and I use -- it's called Life360, and tracks our phone position in real-time and logs it for a month. Pretty maps and alerts when we enter or exit a geo-fenced area too.

      I don't care if she knows exactly where I go. I've told her that it's tracking her as well and to leave the group or uninstall it if she has problems with it. She's left it up because she doesn't care if I know where she is either.

      (If I really cared about location I'd hit "airplane mode" or leave the phone at home and use a burner with call-forwarding.)

      "Life three sixty" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue easily so we just call it the "stalker" app.

      Hell, if everybody else is tracking me, *I* might as well get some good out of it too! ;-)

      ------

      As a matter of fact, my home got robbed recently. I was able to use this to see when I left since I wasn't paying attention.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 9:29pm

        Re: Re:

        Hey, if you don't mind people tacking you, why don't you post a link so that we can all do it?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 18 Jan 2017 @ 6:45am

          Re: Re: Re:

          If he has done nothing wrong then he has nothing to fear.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Eldakka (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 9:59pm

        Re: Re:

        Are you sure that the thieves weren't getting your location data so they knew when your home would be empty?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Cowardly Lion, 18 Jan 2017 @ 12:38am

        Re: Re:

        You gave your girlfriend a tracking device?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Ninja (profile), 18 Jan 2017 @ 1:49am

        Re: Re:

        I don't deny there are benefits to (a good portion of) technological devices. But the tracking and the intrusion are annoying. Beware, make sure you guys aren't going to a place near some meth lab or something... Things may get ugly if your geo data is caught up by govt surveillance ;-)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    DannyB (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:35am

    The Button

    The Amazon Echo at least has a button you can press which alerts Amazon that you're about to discuss something really interesting.

    Does OnStar have such a button?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Alphonse Tomato (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 11:57am

      Re: The Button

      Yeah, but (like Amazon) it can be worked without one.

      Witness recent flurry of automated dollhouse orders after a TV news story quoted a little kid who ordered a dollhouse.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        DannyB (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 1:50pm

        Re: Re: The Button

        I agree, it doesn't need the button. But the button is labelled such that consumers will press it when they are talking about something private, which can signal Amazon, or OnStar that what follows is going to be especially interesting.

        So the button is a useful feature. (For big brother.)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2017 @ 5:54pm

          Re: Re: Re: The Button

          It would be humorous to push the button and then start talking shit. Like really random bullshit - hilarity ensues.

          And when you don't push the button, say that you really like some product and that you want to buy it, then the next day say you read some bad shit about it and refuse to look at it any more, rinse / repeat.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 19 Jan 2017 @ 9:04am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: The Button

            Remind me of old movie where a couple staged murder for snooping neighbor.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Anonymous Coward, 20 Jan 2017 @ 3:32pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Button

              These days they would be swatted. I bet that didn't happen in an old movie.

              link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        DannyB (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 1:55pm

        Re: Re: The Button

        I see I misread you. Yes, it is possible to create problems with a recording that asks Alexa to purchase something. And that could be a problem.

        But I was talking about a privacy issue, like with OnStar. If OnStar has big brother listening for the past 15 years, then OnStar should have a "privacy button" feature that signals big brother of something interesting.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    redrum, 17 Jan 2017 @ 1:25pm

    They listened in "when an emergency button was pushed" .. That doesn't smell right. Wouldn't they ask what's the emergency if the button was pushed?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      DannyB (profile), 17 Jan 2017 @ 1:52pm

      Re:

      You are correct. If the emergency button is pressed, they should ask what's the emergency.

      If the privacy button is pressed, this should signal them to silently listen in.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    John Cressman, 18 Jan 2017 @ 6:55am

    Trust no one

    Just assume every thing that has some form of communication - OnStar, cellphones, etc - can be and IS BEING tracked by law enforcement.

    1984 didn't know that HALF of it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Oct 2018 @ 9:08am

    Such eavesdropping can be defeated by using a jammer that jams wireless data signals.

    There are jammers available that will jam data, but voice, so you can still make receive voice calls on your cell phone

    Jammning data does not break current FCC rules

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.