#connectedcarprivacy — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Waze updates, Google Images turns 25, Samsung turns to more titanium, Frontier Airlines + Starlink, bill to ban Chinese cars

This week may have featured an unwanted import of smoky, hazy air from Canadian wildfires, but at least that miasma did not descend on the District until Friday–the day after I got to the one Fort Reno concert I’m likely to be able to see this summer.

Patreon readers got a bonus post assessing when I’m likely to need to replace my three oldest computers–and explaining why the oldest machine is not at the front of that list.

7/13/2026: Waze Gets AI, Personalization Options—Including One to Make It Less Chatty, PCMag

I have to admit that I had not used Waze in quite some time, so I downloaded a copy to refresh my memory. I’m glad I did, as this exercise reminded that Waze has yet to match Google’s ability to show which routing will be most efficient.

7/14/2026: Google Images Marks Its 25 Birthday by Adding AI Image Generation, PCMag

This was another Google item from an embargoed announcement. It was going to be an unusually short post, but then I realized that Google’s anniversary post didn’t mention the date the company launched Google Images. Some quick Googling surfaced a New York Times story apparently written on that day, July 12, 2001.

7/14/2026: Samsung Teases New Screen Substrate for Its Next Foldable: Titanium, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this announcement; since I try to be the guy who solves problems for my editors and since I rarely get to cover metallurgical topics, I said I would.

7/15/2026: Frontier Airlines Is Adding Starlink, But You Might Have to Pay for It, PCMag

I was going to write this Tuesday but had to set it aside for the Samsung news. But that delay gave me some extra time to send a further round of questions to Frontier’s PR office about their weird unwillingness to say what the service will cost (if an ultra-low-cost carrier that literally has “ULCC” as its stock ticker doesn’t say upfront that a service is free, it’s not going to be free) and whether they would finally add power outlets (apparently not).

7/18/2026: Bill Would Ban Chinese Connected Cars in the US—From Sale and on the Streets, PCMag

I could have written this post in fewer words if I hadn’t gotten into how Congress has done nothing to address people’s privacy concerns about non-Chinese connected cars, but I wasn’t going to do that. I will not stop reminding readers about how Congress keeps failing to pass any sort of comprehensive privacy legislation.

Weekly output: Waze updates, Google Images turns 25, Samsung turns to more titanium, Frontier Airlines + Starlink, bill to ban Chinese cars

This week may have featured an unwanted import of smoky, hazy air from Canadian wildfires, but at least that miasma did not descend on the District until Friday–the day after I got to the one Fort Reno concert I’m likely to be able to see this summer.

Patreon readers got a bonus post assessing when I’m likely to need to replace my three oldest computers–and explaining why the oldest machine is not at the front of that list.

7/13/2026: Waze Gets AI, Personalization Options—Including One to Make It Less Chatty, PCMag

I have to admit that I had not used Waze in quite some time, so I downloaded a copy to refresh my memory. I’m glad I did, as this exercise reminded that Waze has yet to match Google’s ability to show which routing will be most efficient.

7/14/2026: Google Images Marks Its 25 Birthday by Adding AI Image Generation, PCMag

This was another Google item from an embargoed announcement. It was going to be an unusually short post, but then I realized that Google’s anniversary post didn’t mention the date the company launched Google Images. Some quick Googling surfaced a New York Times story apparently written on that day, July 12, 2001.

7/14/2026: Samsung Teases New Screen Substrate for Its Next Foldable: Titanium, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this announcement; since I try to be the guy who solves problems for my editors and since I rarely get to cover metallurgical topics, I said I would.

7/15/2026: Frontier Airlines Is Adding Starlink, But You Might Have to Pay for It, PCMag

I was going to write this Tuesday but had to set it aside for the Samsung news. But that delay gave me some extra time to send a further round of questions to Frontier’s PR office about their weird unwillingness to say what the service will cost (if an ultra-low-cost carrier that literally has “ULCC” as its stock ticker doesn’t say upfront that a service is free, it’s not going to be free) and whether they would finally add power outlets (apparently not).

7/18/2026: Bill Would Ban Chinese Connected Cars in the US—From Sale and on the Streets, PCMag

I could have written this post in fewer words if I hadn’t gotten into how Congress has done nothing to address people’s privacy concerns about non-Chinese connected cars, but I wasn’t going to do that. I will not stop reminding readers about how Congress keeps failing to pass any sort of comprehensive privacy legislation.

This workweek felt longer than usual because Thursday had me going to Dallas and back for an upcoming story. As booked, this itinerary would have put about 17 hours between my stepping off my front porch in the morning and returning to my house late at night, but as flown it returned me home three hours later than planned, almost 21 hours after I’d woken up. Patreon readers, I hope you will enjoy my upcoming recap of that prolonged day.

7/22/2024: Why the Tech Industry Refuses to Learn From Disastrous Outages, The New Republic

A friend filling in at TNR–the same one who helped me get my first byline at that publication last July–asked if I could turn around a post about lessons from the CrowdStrike calamity. I said I could, received an editorial green light for my pitch at 11:37 a.m., got useful quotes from three of six subject-matter experts I’d hit up for comment, and filed the piece at 5 p.m. sharp.

7/23/2024: TikTok, YouTube Battle for Satisfaction Supremacy, Facebook Hate Calms a Bit, PCMag

In my latest coverage of the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s ratings of social-media and search-engine firms, I called out the contradiction between search operators having such closely-spaced satisfaction rankings and Google’s overwhelming dominance of the market.

7/23/2024: Sydney Sweeney’s X Account Reportedly Hijacked Via (Yet Another) SIM Swap, PCMag

The celebrity angle didn’t make me want to cover the account takeover that 404 Media’s Joseph Cox reported, but seeing a telecom carrier once again apparently fall prey to a SIM-swap attack made me want to remind readers that this risk is not going away. And that they should not depend on text-message-based two-factor authentication for the most important accounts in their lives.

7/24/2024: Buttigieg Plays the Long Game on EVs, But He’s Not Sold on the Cybertruck, PCMag

I didn’t have Tuesday night’s Axios event featuring Secretary Pete on my calendar until Monday, when an e-mail from that publication listed it among other upcoming events. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it hadn’t hit capacity by the time I signed up.

7/26/2024: Senators: Your Driving Data May Have Been Sold For as Little as 26 Cents, PCMag

Two days later, I returned to the topic of cars to cover how Sens. Ed Markey (D.-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) documented how readily and how cheaply some car manufacturers will sell off driving-behavior data to data brokers.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/07/28/weekly-output-tech-monocultures-social-media-satisfaction-sim-swap-attacks-pete-buttigieg-connected-cars-and-data-brokers/

#ACSI #connectedCarPrivacy #connectedCars #CrowdStrike #electricCars #EVs #ITMonoculture #PeteButtigieg #searchEngines #SIMSwap #socialMediaSatisfaction #SydneySweeney #TNR #XAccountTakeover

This workweek felt longer than usual because Thursday had me going to Dallas and back for an upcoming story. As booked, this itinerary would have put about 17 hours between my stepping off my front porch in the morning and returning to my house late at night, but as flown it returned me home three hours later than planned, almost 21 hours after I’d woken up. Patreon readers, I hope you will enjoy my upcoming recap of that prolonged day.

7/22/2024: Why the Tech Industry Refuses to Learn From Disastrous Outages, The New Republic

A friend filling in at TNR–the same one who helped me get my first byline at that publication last July–asked if I could turn around a post about lessons from the CrowdStrike calamity. I said I could, received an editorial green light for my pitch at 11:37 a.m., got useful quotes from three of six subject-matter experts I’d hit up for comment, and filed the piece at 5 p.m. sharp.

7/23/2024: TikTok, YouTube Battle for Satisfaction Supremacy, Facebook Hate Calms a Bit, PCMag

In my latest coverage of the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s ratings of social-media and search-engine firms, I called out the contradiction between search operators having such closely-spaced satisfaction rankings and Google’s overwhelming dominance of the market.

7/23/2024: Sydney Sweeney’s X Account Reportedly Hijacked Via (Yet Another) SIM Swap, PCMag

The celebrity angle didn’t make me want to cover the account takeover that 404 Media’s Joseph Cox reported, but seeing a telecom carrier once again apparently fall prey to a SIM-swap attack made me want to remind readers that this risk is not going away. And that they should not depend on text-message-based two-factor authentication for the most important accounts in their lives.

7/24/2024: Buttigieg Plays the Long Game on EVs, But He’s Not Sold on the Cybertruck, PCMag

I didn’t have Tuesday night’s Axios event featuring Secretary Pete on my calendar until Monday, when an e-mail from that publication listed it among other upcoming events. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it hadn’t hit capacity by the time I signed up.

7/26/2024: Senators: Your Driving Data May Have Been Sold For as Little as 26 Cents, PCMag

Two days later, I returned to the topic of cars to cover how Sens. Ed Markey (D.-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) documented how readily and how cheaply some car manufacturers will sell off driving-behavior data to data brokers.

https://robpegoraro.com/2024/07/28/weekly-output-tech-monocultures-social-media-satisfaction-sim-swap-attacks-pete-buttigieg-connected-cars-and-data-brokers/

#ACSI #connectedCarPrivacy #connectedCars #CrowdStrike #electricCars #EVs #ITMonoculture #PeteButtigieg #searchEngines #SIMSwap #socialMediaSatisfaction #SydneySweeney #TNR #XAccountTakeover

Connected cars’ illegal data collection and use now on FTC’s “radar” - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The Federal Trade Commission's ... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2024643 #connectedcarprivacy #cars #ftc

Connected cars’ illegal data collection and use now on FTC’s “radar” - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The Federal Trade Commission's ... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2024643 #connectedcarprivacy #cars #ftc

Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable,” says US senator - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mas... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1988229 #connectedcarprivacy #mozillafoundation #edwardmarkey #dataprivacy #automakers #cars

Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable,” says US senator - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mas... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1988229 #connectedcarprivacy #mozillafoundation #edwardmarkey #dataprivacy #automakers #cars

Ars Technica: Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable,” says US senator https://arstechnica.com/?p=1988229 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #connectedcarprivacy #mozillafoundation #EdwardMarkey #dataprivacy #automakers #Cars

Connected cars are a “privacy nightmare,” Mozilla Foundation says - Enlarge / Your car's maker can collect data on you from many different ... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965740 #connectedcarprivacy #nissanconnect #applecarplay #connectedcar #datasecurity #androidauto #dataprivacy #bluetooth #hyundai #mozilla #nissan #tesla #cars #kia

Connected cars are a “privacy nightmare,” Mozilla Foundation says - Enlarge / Your car's maker can collect data on you from many different ... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965740 #connectedcarprivacy #nissanconnect #applecarplay #connectedcar #datasecurity #androidauto #dataprivacy #bluetooth #hyundai #mozilla #nissan #tesla #cars #kia

Ars Technica: Connected cars are a “privacy nightmare,” Mozilla Foundation says https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965740 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #connectedcarprivacy #nissanconnect #AppleCarPlay #connectedcar #datasecurity #androidauto #dataprivacy #bluetooth #hyundai #Mozilla #Nissan #Tesla #Cars #Kia