For the nationally recognized and award winning segment we call Tech Friday with Dave. How it brought to you by Interest I find on my line at interest dot com. Because if you're a company, you have computers, and you may very well have problems, maybe not right now, but in the future, because Dave will tell you all the reasons why you will probably end up with problems and
all the ways to avoid it. So get Dave and the team on your job to avoid them and give you best practices and ensure your systems are safe and scare Welcome back to the Morning Show, Dave hat or love talking to you.
Always good to be here, Brian. I feel the same way and helpful. They're doing some good out there.
Well yeah, I mean also freaking people out. I didn't get the article because Joe's not here and it doesn't matter, but I know what the topic is. Tell us about this car exploit that allows you to spy on drivers in real time.
Yeah, so this is just one of many, I would say, Brian. You may recall we talked about this briefly the Mozilla Privacy non included website, and they're expose of newer model cars. I think it was the end of twenty twenty three when it came out. But this is pointing out though, just reiterate something you and I talk about all the time.
These so called Internet of things aaka smart devices, your smart coffee maker, your smart TV, your thermostat, your doorbell, and now your car are vulnerable in the same way that your computers are because essentially everything is computer at right, It's got computer chips in it, It's got software embedded in it that gives it the wow factor and cool
functionality that people like, including your car. And you may recall, Brian, way back we talked about a Wired article where a reporter worked with two hackers and they were able to remotely control this jeep Jeep Grand Cherokee while the reporter was driving. They did all kinds of things to it caused a giant recall back in the day. And this is another illustration of this where in this case this is a third party pioneer head unit, right, Pioneer the
people that make car stereo and stereo equipment. But they the hackers, you know, they're thankfully Brian, there are good people out there, white hat hackers, trying to find vulnerabilities in these products, inform the manufacturers, get them picked, and frankly, inform the public at large about why so many of these things are privacy and security dumpster.
Buyers basically doing the job that the manufacturer should have done ahead of time to avoid this stuff from happening in the first place. As you always point out, they don't think about privacy and security when they're building these devices. They just rush to get the device out because it does something really cool, but failed to incorporate the requisite security measures in there.
Excellent summary. Well, I was going to say almost the exact same thing, which is again, their whole privacy model or their whole business model on most of this IoT stuff is backwards. It's market share, speed to market, ease of use for the consumer, not privacy and security. And you know, at one time it would be bad if there was a bun them software and you could do
your job. But now everything is that are connected. You have systems that interface with and if it's a manufacturer system control your car, which means your vehicle could potentially get hacked and be turned into a weapon of some sort. You and I have talked about that many times over the past, and you know I'm not the only person saying this. There are lots of people in the industry and security experts that are warning about this kind of thing.
But in this case, the hackers went to a conference and demonstrated that they could chain together various flaws and the software inside this thing, and once they had access to it. Now, admittedly, you either have to get hotspot access to it or you have to have physical access to it, so it's not as easy as just and over the air exploit to this head unit. But you know, if you're take it in for repairs, could it get hacked, could someone get in your car, you know, perhaps a
spurned spouse or lover. I mean, they lay all these things down in the article, but the bottom line is once it's been hacked, yes, they can basically see who you're calling, they can watch you where you're driving, and do a variety of other things. Not nearly as bad as some of the manufacturer based systems that have been hacked, because you know, they interface directly with the systems of the car, the brakes, the engine, that sort of thing. So yeah, you know, before you go out and you
change the electronics in your car. Nowadays, you know I'm sure Brian, like me, you're old enought to day it's like, well, I'm going to upgrade the steario of my car because the thing that came from the manufacturer is no good, right Delco yeah or something right yeah. And you didn't have to worry about these kind of things then, right, because you know it was just you know, or.
Maybe just hold on one second. Explains something to me.
First off, that people still replace they had units in their car. So that's that's the thing. I guess that means you bought an older car that doesn't have one of those you know, built in wired up to the entire system sort of units. You buy a substitute unit from Pioneer. It's got a camera in it that records the inside of the automobile.
H some of them do because they want to give you a video capability, just like the stuff that's built into the car.
Why in the hell would I want video of me driving the car?
Well, I mean, think about it, Brian, I don't know. Again, I'm, as you know, against almost all of this.
No, I know, but I'm just saying, is a fundamental proposition why I mean, exterior of the car to record accidents or you know, what's going on around you at least have some comprehension of why you might want that.
But you know, picking my nose or eating a.
Sandwich or doing whatever I'm doing in my car, I don't need a video record of anything going on to the inside of the car.
I agree with you wholehearted. Okay, people Still, people still replace the head unison cars. You know, you can buy these and really advanced ones that sound better. It's getting harder though, because you know, again, most of these so called infotainment systems in modern cars are deeply integrated in the overall folks Now in the car. It's not just a radio anymore, right, Oh, all kinds of things. So, but they make like replacement kits because to your point,
you know, the thing is a weird shape. They do it by design. It takes up all this weird space. You got to have a special kit. But apparently there are still companies out there making you know, aftermarket stereo systems for your car, and like most of this IoT stuff, they have a lot of the same problems. So while you know, I would be careful about upgrading your cars systems simply because of the impact on the car. You have to think about this kind of stuff, and the
bigger point is Internet of things in general. Moldering dumpster fire.
Period every week, the reminder and you can't say it enough day maybe people will start listening to you don't hook your coffee maker up to the internet. Five six thirty seven will continue with Dave. Apparently they're sending drones to nine to one one calls in New York. You dream of a forty okerecy de talk station chech right with Dave Hatter. All right, so Eric said, you might want to be able to have that camera in your car to track your kids driving, which I guess I
kind of get, but he said recording passengers. He said, for like uber lit to people, they may want that, but you know, I guess you can just go ahead and get one of those independent, non Internet connected cameras and just put it on your your your your, your windshield and record the passengers in the car.
I don't know.
That's not something that I have any concern or care about and think it's either it's creepy and stupid. But Internet of things is the broader point on that one. Moving on, New York Police Department using drones.
Yeah, this is an interesting story, and I think this is unavoidable Brian and probably happening in other places. And this particular writer seems to not be a fan of the NYPD based on the tone of this article. But again, you know, drones get cheaper and cheaper and cheaper and more and more capable, whether it's you know, the flight time, it's altitude, it's cameras, microphones, et cetera in the drone. So I'm not saying I don't I don't like it.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying I think, but I think it's inevitable that we're headed in this direction because you know they mentioned here these particular drones that the NYPP are using can go forty five miles an hour. Obviously, they can fly in a straight line. So if you have some sort of unfolding events, even something like a bank robbery, it doesn't have to be a terrorist event or something, right, you can get eyes on the scene
quickly understand what you're up against. But the point they make, which I fully agree with, is as these drones get smaller and more capable, you know, they can hover high enough that you can't hear or see them. Yet with their telephoto limbs, they can zoom in on you see what's in your hands. This article claims that these particular devices the NYPP are using can recognize people and license
plates from a mile away. And the concern, Yeah, the concern they're raising is that, Okay, you send out the drone to wherever you know alleged crime is taking place. Well, it has the potent with to suck up everything in its path along the way. Right, so you know, you're just out for a stroll, and you know, now you're you're on the drone footage. I know that you know you have no expectation of privacy out in public indeed,
but you know, I have some concerns about this. Again, I think it's inevitable, but I think it's important for people to understand and there ought to be a public conversation about this kind of technology and do we want this sort of super invasive technology. You know, you're in your backyard, the drone is up there, it's you know, hovering around, it's filming you, you know, with parabolic microphones. I don't know how far away you could probably listen
to you. I'm sure pretty far, I know that's the thing. So yeah, it's it's interesting to see where all this is going. And again, I just don't see away around it, because it's only going to get less and less expensive to put this sort of technology out there.
True that that's why I'm a fan of sporting clays and skeet and trap shooting.
Dave, Yeah, me too, you know how to lead.
You know.
The other thing that I think about is that there are so many satellites up there, and they have to be positioned properly so they don't run into each other in outer space. And I don't know how they manage that with the thousands and thousands of satellites. But I'm thinking of, you know, someday in the very near future, all these drones are flying around, and then we have these individual car sized drones and fly people around in
drone taxis. You know, at some point we're gonna have a lot of mid air accidents and collisions.
Yeah, I mean, you have to be super confident in the technology for these things to avoid each other. And you know, obviously we don't have enormous amount of these things now, but I think over time, you're just going to see more and more of it. And to your point, Brian, larger ones, air taxis that sort of thing. As far festered as that may sound, I think it's coming. There are already companies claiming to be able to do this. Now.
I'd be the first to say, not a chance I'll ride in any of these things anytime soon, because I don't trust the software and cars rolling on the ground, much less something that's flying me around. But you know, I believe certainly within our lifetime you're going to see a lot more of these things. And you know there are instances where these things fail, fall out of the sky, hit something, hits somebody. Again, I'm not too too worried
about that. But when you think about this from a surveillance perspective, and you know you mentioned the satellite, right, we know there have been satellites in the sky that can you know, read something in your hand and that sort of thing for a long time. But to your point, they have to be positioned. They only fly over every so often, or they're stuck in one place. You know, this gives you, This gives a government entity the capability for a relatively small amount of money to surveil you
or anything they want. Pretty much any time they want, for as long as they want. And you know this is going to be abused, Brian. I mean, think about it. We've seen We've seen examples of companies like ADP where their technicians go in and you know, set up cameras to film attractive women in their house. I mean, they're well documented. People have gone to jail over there.
Well, look, you know that we know that the NSA is soaking up and basically soaking up every piece of data, email, text message that anybody in the United States or anywhere else in the world sends. So if our own government's doing it, you know, nefarious actors are going to take hold of this technology into for nefarious purposes. It's just it's so obvious. Oh well, we live in a frightening or Wellian world day. You prove it every single week.
But again, and I mean I think all at this point, all you can really do is be aware, you know, act accordingly, and then you know, try to raise awareness with other people and talk to your legislators and you know, see what you can do to try to keep as much of his teenie in the bottle as possible.
Yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. We'll continue coming up next. Latest car technology is starting to drive people nuts. One more Dave Hatters Tech Friday six fifty one. It's five care CD talk station in trust it dot com where you find Dave Hatter and his crew for your business computer needs. And I'm sure you probably have thanks for sponsoring the segment day. I've always enjoyed talking, will you about it? Let's find out what's driving people nuts with the latest car technology.
Yeah, back to cars. And it's interesting because then in one of the articles talking about this, they have another article about how your modern car is spying on you and you don't know it. Kind of back to our first segment, and I encourage people go out and check out privacy not included in particular exposity on modern cars. But this is all about and I get this because
I have a newer car. It's like at twenty eighteen, and my wife has a newer car, it's like at twenty nineteen, and you know, almost everything in it is
no longer mechanical, right, everything is electronic. You've got to go to the entertainment screen, or you've got some kind of weird control that's not very precise, versus just I want to I just want to press the button and go to a certain channel, or I want to turn on the air conditioning or turn off the air conditioning without having to go through fifteen screens to figure out how to do it right. And that's one of the things,
one of the things they point out. It's not only irritating for people, because.
A lot of you, I agree with this, it's dangerous.
Or increasingly it's not only less intuitive. Yes, it's dangerous because you have to take your eyes off the road. Yeah, I hit a button, then you got to go to another button.
Dave, think about this. It's illegal to use your cell phone in the state of Ohio Wi.
You're driving.
And yet yeah, and they got that giant screen which you have to use and operate to navigate through, to deal with really literally anything you want to do in the car. How Now you drive down the road and just your air cognition, you're like, oh, what screen do I need? And you're staring down at that your your your your your eyes aren't on the road.
It's crazy.
Yeah, So that's a pro recent study, driver's feelings on the intuitiveness of car controls fell from seventy nine percent and twenty fifteen, when you've had a lot less of the text and entertainment and digital buttons and so forth, to fifty six percent and twenty twenty four. Honestly, I'm surprised it's that high because you know, I can't tell you them because I've runted a car that I'm not familiar with, and then I have no idea what I'm doing, right,
and unlike the old school. Again, here's a button, it turns on the air conditioning. Here's a button that turns on the deeproster. You know, some cars still have some combination of that, but a lot of it is increasingly digital. And I get it. But also I think a part of the people overlook when they think about these things. All of this tech is very expensive when it goes bad. Versus I just need to replace a switch that opens and closes a circuit to turn on the air conditioning
or whatever. You know, if I got to replace the whole entertainment system, very expensive. And you know, I think one of the greatest innovations in cars in the last several decades or backup cameras, right, yeah, backup cameras super helpful.
Reduces a lot of danger but you know, when those things go bad, and now cars have sensors all around them, those things can be extremely expensive to replace when they go bad, So you're not only adding to the cost of the car, you're adding to the maintenance of the car. And again, I understand the benefit of some of these things, but I agree wholeheartedly with this article that most modern cars are a lot less intuitive in the way you
operate them. And I agree with your point, Brian, that it's it's dangerous to have to constantly keep taking your eyes off the road to go three screens in to figure out how to change something you want to change about the environment or the behavior of the car. I find it very frustrating person.
Yeah, I'm with you all day long.
And I hate to even admit this out loud, but since we gave our son the old Honda, we had to replace. We needed a larger vehicle because we have dogs, we have a yard, and you have to deal so anyway, we got a modern used vehicle and it's got one of those systems in it. And when they were trying to upsell us on the extended warranty and was really expensive for the extended warranty, the guy said, well, you know, something goes wrong with that. You know that screen, that
infotainment system that's connected litterally everything. It's more expensive to fix that than it is then replacing the engine in the car.
Yeah, which is crazy.
That was his you know, his upsell. You know it's like, well it's still under warranty, and how often this happens. Well, basically they don't have any problems with it, so anyway, it's just it's scary stuff. I mean, I hate having one of those cars that's literally recording everything. And you know, to your point about the car spying on you, that information can be purchased by insurance companies.
Yes, yes it can. In fact, you know, that was another recent scandal. You may recall we talked about it briefly. GM had to come off. They were essentially selling the data collected from people's cars to insurance companies, and people were getting premium increases and canceled without voluntarily signing up. It's one thing, like the progressive thing, right, you get it, you pluge it into your car. You're volunteering to do that because you know your partents are going to get
better raids. It's another thing and they talk about that and that privacy not included thing. I keep referencing about how these cars are collecting all this data and potentially selling it to third parties, including your insurance company, who might decide you're not a good sable risk based on the driving it's coming from your car. So things to think about as we head into this increasingly dystopian world where everything has sensors in it, and everything wants to track you if you'll let it.
Yeah, it's just so scary. Anyway, important information, know and think about. Dave Hatter. I always appreciate you bringing it to our attention every week here in the fifty five Caresy Morning Show. Look forward to next Friday in another edition of Tech Friday with Dave Hatter, again brought to you by intrust it dot com. Get in touch with Dave and the team at interust it dot com. Take care, Dave, Thank you again. Have a wonderful weekend, and I won't
be around next week. I'm taking all week next off, so I think if you're doing the segment, you'll be doing it with Kevin Gordon next Friday.
All right, Well, Brian, you enjoy your time off and I want God to chat with you when you're back.
Thanks brother, Take care Man six fifty seven and fifty five care City Talk Station. We're in here from Troy Day. The program is Trust and Valor and it's a program for veterans and first responders. Should be really interesting. Plus the Daniel Davis Deep Dive Special Friday editions since we didn't get him on Tuesday.
That'll take place at seven thirty. I'll be right back