Not everyone has a cell phone. (I know several who do not.) Even some of us that do just leave the thing off with the battery pulled out if it's not in use.

I feel like this could be turning into. Tin foil hat thread....

@r4nier
Has he hurt you in some way? He just came here to ask for technical help with his vehicle, not convince you of anything. You're not obligated to respond, or even read his question for that matter.

Not offended more thought it was funny reading people’s responses.. it felt very conspiracy theorist .. just made a joke is all

@4Rnier:
I hear your argument - if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem, right? Why don't you take your pants off and go for a walk - you definitely have nothing to hide in that department...

@woland Try to stay on topic please. Lets not dig up months old posts to stir up childish drama that already died out. OK?

To a certain degree, it's true. On the other hand, I give them bs information (like I am a 100 yo disabled Indian woman) whenever possible so when they display an ad of a pink doll house, I feel they are sufficiently confused.
I don't buy your argument - if there is a bunch of crooks that already has your information, what's the point of adding yet another one?!?

I don't think you understand. Regardless of what information you give, your true information is out there for anyone who wants to find it. It's not an argument, it is actual fact. But like I said, if you sleep better believing that anything about you is secret in modern times, be my guest.

@mod_man so we shouldn't try to limit how much of info gets out there?
Would you like to post your full name, personal phone number and family address publicly here on the forum?

You can try to limit it, but it is out there. My info is as well. I think you misunderstand me, at least a little. Not posting your personal info on an open forum is different than disassembling your vehicle to remove a communications module. Firstly, people tend to have a severely overinflated sense of self importance. How would your vehicle telematics be of benefit to thieves? Speaking as a Black Hat programmer, what would be the big payoff in this information to make it worth my while? Nobody cares where Joe Schmoe drives. Literally no one. Take me, for instance. If I died right now, the world would keep spinning. That's just how it is. So unless you are a high-value target, nobody is taking the time to bother taking your info in the first place, much less the government if that is a concern. Taking reasonable steps to keep your accounts secure (passwords, etc.) is a good idea to keep the phishing rookies from messing with you. But a seasoned Black Hat? Literally, if they want it, they can get it. Much like how a car alarm is nice, but if someone wants it they will take it. And a Black Hat is about the only person who is going to have the ability to crack telematics communications from a secure module. And if that module is removed, there are a ton of other ways to communicate with the vehicle and get the needed info. Like I said, if he wants to tear apart his new car that's on him. I'm simply advising against it as it is not necessary and doesn't benefit the OP to do at all.

I agree that the energy expended should reflect the value of the item you're trying to protect.

Now you bring up the question, of what value is your information collected by Toyota? Well I'm not sure what they collect. It may be disclosed, or you may never find out the whole truth. I expect they'll know location history, name, phone number, VIN at least. Possibly credit card if you have service subscriptions. How will hackers use it? Well that's where they can be very creative. You cannot even imagine what they can do. They might put together some information from source A, a little from source B ...There are many unscrupulous individuals who have no morals. These are the kind of people who blackmail and extort. I'm sure insurance companies would love to get their hands on that data too. The problem is you never how it can be used against you until it's too late. Like Scotty says, politics shift like the changing winds, and laws change.

Funny you should mention dying. The world will keep spinning, but the fun isn't over yet. Let's say you die in a car accident, and your family is left to pick up the pieces. Maybe it was the car's fault you died, and you need to sue. Or maybe you're entitled to some insurance money. Now you need to prove it. You know as well as I do that car companies can't be trusted. They don't give a flying $*&%^ about you, and now they have your data. Do you think they'll share it with you? Have you read the fine print?
Information is power. To think otherwise is naive.

So, Toyota last week announced why one would want to disable mobile data transfers between your vehicle and Toyota. They can remotely disable features and require subscriptions. So, I'll re-ask the question. Is there a way to physically disconnect your vehicle from the mobile network?

Absolutely. Pull the battery, shove it off a cliff, go buy an old car that lacks all of the features you want but has none of the data you're so concerned about. That would do it.

I'm sure that the car module is secure and that the communication to Toyota servers is properly encrypted - But the danger with these kinds of companies is that cyber security isn't their bread and butter, and in some time, their data will evidently leak.

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Once (it's really not a matter of "if", as I see it and from my experience) this data will get into malicious hands, I'd assume it wouldn't be that hard to launch a sophisticated fishing attack - if they are creative it can even use info about your vehicle to further personalize it.

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Also I believe that organised crime, at some point, will use illegal cyber assets. things like "where you live", "what car do you own", and "what's your typical commute and destinations" will definitely be used against you. When a group of criminals wants to built a submarine that can cross the Atlantic (a thing that's actually happening), it's mainly a matter of them getting the practical knowhow - but with databases, once they leak, it's just a matter of money to gain access to it and very little technical knowhow is needed.

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I know there ain't a sniper on the other rooftop watching every move I make, but my data is none of any private companies' business. It's just discussing for me to imagine someone hoarding my personal data although I know it, presumably, has little to no significant effect on my life - I'd just rather avoid that wherever I can.

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I know lots of it has been collected and I see this attempt at consolidating all of this data into one place and having everything accessible online as an issue humanity will inevitably have to deal with - This is more profound if you're living in a country that's pretty much an active cyber war zone like I do, for example, recently there was an attempt by a hostile government to dump huge amounts of chlorine into the water to poison people, a small local insurance company's servers got hacked and a all of my countries' gov worker's personal IDs and information got leaked, and a Hospital's systems have been shut down due to a cyber attack, and much more. 

Not everything has to be interconnected, and you shouldn't gather all of the data that you can - and until corporations will actually be responsible and will be held accountable in case of a leak - I'm not willing to let them do so, as much as I can.

Volkswagen hack: 3 million customers have had their information stolen
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/11/cars/vw-audi-hack-customer-information/index.html

Speaking of data breaches, I also want to add that Ford had a massive breach because they didn’t even manage to set up an off the shelf customer engagement system correctly.
But that’s the level of cyber security in the auto industry.
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I guess the worst example of how bad cyber security is in the auto industry would be when FCA had to recall 1.4 million vehicles because it was possible to take over a cars’ brakes and steering remotely.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/08/02/charlie-miller-chris-valasek-jeep-hackers-steering-brake/
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I have no doubt that Toyota isn’t much better than Ford, FCA or VW when it comes to cyber security - especially when it comes to our data, as they just treat it like it’s nothing.
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It’s just matter of time until there’ll be another massive data breach from another yet another automaker - the question if that’s going to be something harmless like name and email address, or if that’s going to be sensitive data like your home addresses, your cars VIN number, where you work and what routes do you typically take…

......

I'm 100% with @r4nier on this thread.

If you think you can live in a world where nobody has your "data", you're dreaming. A lot of this is scare mongering. Instead of wondering about everything that could maybe possibly have a chance of happening to you, like a lightning strike, I suggest people focus on reality , facts, and actual threats, not perceived or theoretical ones.
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Has anybody been affected by the "data trove"?
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In the Toyota breach this was the information exposed:
- the in-vehicle GPS navigation terminal ID number,
- the chassis number, and
- vehicle location information with time data.
None of this is personally identifying, and there is no evidence that the data was misused.