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Anyone who has been car shopping recently knows that modern cars are surveillance and privacy nightmares that take control out of the hands of their supposed owners and places them in the hands of car manufacturers and government regulators. So what do we do about this problem? Joining us today to discuss these issues is Eric Peters, an Anarcho-Libertarian writer and gearhead who discusses the intersection of cars and freedom at his website, EPAutos.com.
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SHOW NOTES:
Eric Peters author profile at The Mises Institute
Your Exploding Car is Spying on You (NWNW #576)
Flashback: Alberta Introduces Seat Belt Laws (Feb 2nd, 1989)
1976 Trans Am walk around/drive
Reader Question: A Way Out of This Mess?
Harley-Davidson Responds To Our Boycott Over Woke Policies and DUMPS DEI!
Automakers Sold Driver Data for Pennies, Senators Say
Tesla issues software update to help owners flee Hurricane Irma by increasing battery range
I noticed that the Antifa protesters (in 2020 BLM “protests”) were guided by a “controller” who drove
an old but expensive BMW. This was recorded by a video of a pedestrian who caught them
in the act of switched license plates.
I immediately thought of how those cars were not transmitting their GPS coordinates.
And I suspect that the CIA or similar intelligence is involved in directing the Antifa cult.
The reduced Tesla range may relate to protection/durability of the battery.
Teslas will be super cheap in a few years when their batteries die and become toxic waste.
On a side note lithium batteries are dangerous… as an experiment wearing gloves people can pull one apart and drop the lithium in water. On second thoughts don’t do that…..its not safe
I wonder if the talk of lithium in the water supply to control suicidal ideation is pre talk for getting rid of the battery waste like they did with fluoride and the aluminum makers iirc
Different type of lithium.
In batteries it’s usually lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂) or lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄).
In meds it’s usually lithium salts, such as lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃), lithium citrate, or lithium orotate.
They’ve been talking about medicating the water supply with it for decades, long before EV’s were a thing, well, modern EV’s anyway. Not counting the original EV’s from around 100 years ago that seemed quite good but were squashed by the usual suspects.
Thanks for that. I did not know there was a difference tbh
Occasionally, when my body’s mineral content is low, I take lithium orotate.
Corbett member Jo-ann SUBTHREAD – Lithium
https://corbettreport.com/june-open-thread-2024/#comment-165330
On attitude towards gov intervention and how they have changed it’s amazing how few people today probably agree with the guy in the clip below complaining that he can’t have a few beers while driving home after work.
People have changed a lot in a very short time
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcQIoh3FQQ&pp=ygUYTmV3cyBkcmluayBkcml2aW5nYmxhd3Mg
I guess it’s like having an SKS propped up on the wall in the open… on the one hand you want to be free to do it but on the other hand it’s not always a good idea.
On car privacy Watchman privacy posted two talks with a chap about how your car spys on you.
The real BIG thing IMO is to never let your phone connect to your car in any way- though most people are pretty stupid and never turn off their Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on their phones. I wouldn’t even leave cellular data turned on unless I wanted to do something specific, anymore then I’d leave a pc connected to the internet
The guest links in the pods go to a service that claims to provide a report on your specific car and what it collects
https://watchmanprivacy.com/2023/07/04/78-an-unencrypted-hard-drive-on-wheels-car-privacy-with-andrea-amico/
https://watchmanprivacy.com/2024/07/16/112-vehicle-privacy-part-2-andrea-amico/
Personally I recommend a cheep motor scooter because you can insure it for almost nothing and it’s so primitive any data collected will be on wax tablets, lol. But don’t ride in the rain….
I agree that a cheap motorcycle might work for some folks, but they have limitations with hauling friends or stuff.
I had a few motorcycles when I was young.
With vaxxed car drivers now-a-days, I would hate to wrestle with safety.
In the mid 1970’s, I bought a running intact 1949 Chevrolet Car for around $600.
I so wished that I had kept it.
It ran great, and was SIMPLE.
When you opened the front hood, it was mostly empty space with what looked like a lawnmower engine.
Even those old World War 2 jeeps were simple.
My late 1960’s VW hippie bus (camper style with pop top) was simple.
Air cooled – no radiator.
I loved it.
Paper towels blew into air intake the pipe around 1972 when I bought it and so I burned up the engine.
I hated getting rid of that thing.
Simple. I like simple.
I was thinking of getting a side car since no one dares ride with me…. But they cost more then my bike did 🙁
I built a motorized bike but it scares me tbh and my father in law did an electric bike kit (he also built his own battery pack) and I guess regret giving away my bike trailer now because I bet it could have hauled a lot more then my underseat storage.
That sounds like it was a good van- changing the oil on a van recently I saw someone strip then break the top oil filter cover…. Fixing it they broke a bolt on the engine and then snapped the replacement bolt with a correctly set torque wrench.
1960’s era VW Camper Van with pop-top – IMAGE
https://fr.pinterest.com/pin/9007267978312253/
This is what my van looked like.
I still remember the 8-track tape playing “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf on those hot sweaty afternoons in the Texas summer.
No A/C, just windows open.
Riding around with friends or going on double dates or camping out by the lake with friends, this was a lot of fun.
The front seat was full stretch like a couch.
One of the back seats would fold into a bed.
It had a sink and cooler like frig box, and a ‘closet’ place to hang clothes.
All kinds of little storage areas.
Thanks for posting this. I’m one of those tech dummies so I’ll definitely check this out. My car is pretty old though, 2016 but it does have a bluetooth feature and I have listened to audiobooks in my car.
Don’t beat yourself up over it too much, they keep moving settings and such around so unless you’re paranoid or a tech head it’s impossible to keep up with their sneakyness.
I will offer a bit of advice though- get an old android phone and slap a music player app on it and then leave it in airplane mode. I have a super old one that pretends it’s an iPod (which I am too poor to afford) and I just slap stuff into it via a USB cable from my computer.
Even a trash old phone will play music mahjong and chess games and I trust airplane mode enough since I’m not currently on the run or anything.
I hate Bluetooth and won’t have anything with it near me since I am pretty sure it gives people cancer… but I also won’t have Wi-Fi in the house for the same reason (not to mention I don’t want any device calling home without my permission) back when I had a router everyone got mad at me for turn it off when not in use. I freaked when I found the things admin password was literally “password” lolol
iPhone are the worst for doing usb transfer on Linux and are sneakier then android even if more secure. I annoy someone close to me by grabbing their phone and showing them that they actually DO have blue tooth and Wi-Fi on because if you just click them on the slide down (rather then settings) they turn on again after a set period. Yes, i am that annoying in real life, lololo, Got to say I do like how their iMessage can text anyone anywhere in the world for free.
This interview with Eric Peters was a real treasure!!
I just loved it!
—- LINK to…
Fawlty Towers and Rexleonum new car anecdotes
…and…
Monday January 13, 2025 – ZeroHedge
Texas Sues Allstate For Secretly Tracking Drivers Through Apps, Using Data To Raise Rates
https://corbettreport.com/nwnw576/#comment-172178
This is a very good report and serves as an incentive for further action like do not comply and find an end around the spy tentacles. I have two 2013 GM sedans and several years ago I removed the fuse from each car that controls the On Star devices using the fuse block diagram as a guide in the owner’s manual. Perhaps car makers are already limiting what is shown in the fuse block diagram in newer cars. If I take my mobile phone, I disconnect the WiFi and Bluetooth, and completely shut down the phone. Some people also suggest using a Faraday bag. I would like to find the fuse and/or connections for any data recording devices to disable them completely. That is the next step.
Can those options be used using an OBD2?
I’m familiar with Eric Peters as he is a regular guest on The David Knight Show which I often listen to. He epitomises a 20th century appreciation of cars as a gateway to freedom and independence. Sadly those days are fading. For now at least.
Here in Wales I hung onto my 2000 Toyota for as long as possible spending increasing money each year to get it through the ever more stringent MOT (yearly inspection) test dreading an “upgrade” to a more modern and electronic version. Alas, 2023 was the year it died and I’m now an owner of a 2006 diesel Ford which has frustrating electric windows but otherwise appears to be devoid of too much electronics and no nanny features that I am aware of.
When this car dies who knows? May be it’ll be time to go back to horse and buggy. And even that won’t appease the watermelon gang because horse farts are causing climate emergency, aren’t they?
If we lived in a free market without overbearing regulation I’d envision a ‘car for life’ – simply made, reliable, with easy to replace parts as they wear out. No electronics. Maybe a radio. I think they have something like this in India. Or used to have if anyone can enlighten me.
But of course the design problem is not restricted to automobiles. It’s affecting almost everything. As more and more things get designed by computer programmes, the complexity goes up while the usefulness and durability goes down.
What saddens me is the fact that most people in their 30’s and younger have never experienced good design and haven’t a clue what they’re missing. I’m in my 60’s so I grew up in a perfectly functioning analogue world.
Thank you for this important solutions watch! Great way to start 2025. I drive an 18 wheeler and I can definitely report that we truckers are definitely scrutinized in all we do. We are under the loving watchful eye of big brother in the form of a lytx camera that is so sensitive we can’t even sneeze without committing a violation.
Even though my brother and I have been driving for a combined 45 years, we have young, eager coaches who are fresh out of college telling us how to become better and safer drivers. We have seen almost everything out here on the road in our 45 years but now that we have cameras we are treated like inexperienced drivers.The addition of these cameras has made our jobs much harder.
Good timing for this episode on Car Freedom seeing as the annual Detroit Auto Show is going on this week.
I recall the late 60’s and 70’s when I would go to the Detroit Auto Show every year. Cars were associated with freedom in those days. I would have to say that the war on freedom has been going on for a long time and each year they take a little bit more away.
Back in the 70’s I had a job as a Mechanic doing prototype work in a non-union shop for Ford Motor Co. We got the overflow from the Ford Engine Garage and thus did a lot of the same work for half the pay and half the benefits. Anyway, the people there used to talk about Japanese Cars like they were junk because they kept changing things every few years and you couldn’t get parts for something that was only a few years old. Of coarse this had do with Federal Government Mandates requiring an average of 27 MPG.
At these Auto Shows I would see how the Japanese Auto Companies were putting newly designed engines on the market, often with 4 valves per cylinder and creative valve timing, then they would come out with something newer in a year or two which made the older engines obsolete and hard to find parts for. None the less, I knew they would get it right eventually and they did.
Mean while, back in Detroit they were still using engines designed 10 to 20 years earlier and often a new Model simply had a new front and back design with all of the same guts. I recall the 1978 Ford Granada being nearly identical to the 1977 Granada. Leaving the shop one Saturday I stopped and talked with the head of Environmental Emissions for Ford who was working with the shop welder. He was there working late on a Saturday because Ford had to have that car tested by the EPA the following Monday. Anyway, the quick fix was to have this welder install six (6) Catalytic Converters on this car with a V-8 engine. Retail price for these Cats would have been about $300 each at that time, (more than 10% of the cost of the car). A Catalytic Converter simply burns wasted fuel that is not burned in the combustion camber to reduce HC emissions going out the tail pipe. I never saw that many on a Japanese car.
I got Laid-off from that job because I would be heard saying things like “you can’t keep making junk and expect people to keep buying it”, but hell 1976 was GM’s most profitable year and they were sell mostly junk. I think it was the early 80’s before the shit hit the fan for Detroit Auto makers. So much for silencing decent, eh!
I think that the Toyota Truck for About $13,000 with no Air Bags mentioned in this episode is a great solution but it can not be sold in the USA. That needs to change. These AIPAC paid pawns that pretend to represent segments of the American people (Congress) have to be made to repeal all such unconstitutional legislation.
TruthSeeker,
I really enjoyed reading your write-up.
It was interesting.
I laughed out loud on the Cat part.
“Solutions”
I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/deregulating-barn-raising-fixes-this
So, Amish came to build small houses for the victims of hurricane Helene. They built 100+ in a few days. Gubment steps in and kicks people out because the houses are not up to code.
You’re there, driving along, and all of a sudden something happens that you have to swerve around. Suddenly, an alarm in your car goes off, diverting your attention away from the new thing on the road you should be paying attention to. Next thing you know, you’re dead.
Calling cars 2-ton death machines has never been truer. I had to keep turning off all the unsafety features in my car because they kept distracting me. Trust me, the more of this stuff you see on cars, the more people WILL get into accidents. Is it any wonder that car manufacturers would only be interested in people surviving accidents rather than avoiding them so that once a person has wrecked their car they would have to buy another in some scheme to have a never-ending customer chain?
Disposable vehicles will be the new pollution while the climate-change narrative is continually beaten into your head.
My previous car was a 2005 Prius. Somebody crashed into it in September of 2023. I had it for a long time and probably would still have it if it hadn’t got totaled. But, it was expensive to insure and license. The main reason, I think, is because it fit the category of “alternative fuel vehicle.” It still used gas, though.
My current car is a 2009 Honda CR-V. It cost less to insure and about half the cost of the Prius to license.
I’ve only had three new cars since I started driving so many years ago. I don’t want a self-driving car. I don’t even like to use cruise control.
My ’08 Camry is in top shape and will last my lifetime, probably. I have wanted an EV for a half century, and have 3 Aptera’s on order since 2020. They plan to issue the first in 2025 and go into full production in 2026. I will gift one, sell one, and keep one. It will self charge by it’s PV panels and since I don’t make long trips anymore it will never need to be plugged in. It is a niche car, two seater, 3 wheel, most efficient car ever made.
Latest batteries will out last the car. Older batteries are two valuable to trash. They will be repurposed or recycled. Within a decade no more mining will be needed. All battery metals will be obtained cheaper by recycling. I predict car ownership will fade away when the robotaxi outcompetes private cars, cutting cost by 95%. I follow this tech. It’s improving so fast the financial “experts” can’t keep up. Same with energy plants.