I think that privacy is being violated in numerous ways by all modern vehicles but China has been actively manipulating Canadian politics and Canadians in the past decade. They have world domination in mind and are willing to play the longest game necessary to achieve that goal.
National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China (2017)
Aritcle 7: “All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.”
Article 10: “As necessary for their work, national intelligence work institutions are to use the necessary means, tactics, and channels to carry out intelligence efforts, domestically and abroad.”
The Chinese gov can tell it’s auto manufactures to collect any data and they will. Non-compliance means being removed from your position of power are replaced with a more responsible figure.
GPG/PGP
You can encrypt your communications and send the encrypted text over the service of your choosing. Like you said, it’s not painless but it’s something that governments can’t interfere with unless they start blocking Linux software repos and other software distribution sites. I’m pretty sure there are some messaging and email apps that already allow for the use of GPG/PGP so for some users it could be a simple as installing and sharing a key with their friends.
Tracking your driving habits is a privacy violation but not the biggest issue with Chinese cars. The Chinese government has unrestricted access to collected data AND they can compel manufactures to collect specific kinds of data. That turns Chinese cars into a fleet or war drivers.
With thousands of vehicles recording every WiFi point and bluetooth device that passes in range you can track other devices and other vehicles that are not of Chinese origin. For example, a politician or members of that politician’s entourage could have their phone’s wifi and bt mac identified at a public event by a Chinese agent. From that point on they can be tracked anytime they pass within a hundred meters of a Chinese car. Even if the VIP is practicing good opsec their entourage may have a personal device that is identifiable. This would let the Chinese government get a heads up on meetings with businesses or other heads of state about which they would not have otherwise known.
And this is the most trivial example, it would require so little data transmission from each car that it could be hidden in regular diagnostic and update communications.
The US has to come up with court orders and warrants to get data from third parties like GM or Ford, and those companies are not compelled to collect any particular dataset. Every Chinese business is, by default, required to both capture all data and share it with the Chinese government, and they are required not to disclose that they were collecting and sharing that data.
If you have a weed vending business here in Canada, and you sell weed online to the USA, do you think that Canada would not sell you out in a second to the US? Many countries around the world are just as happy to throw someone under the bus at the request of a foreign government, particularly if it is furthering the erosion of personal encryption.
And I do agree that the Canadian government should be on the hook to enforce their own laws but it’s way easier for them to put the screws to individuals and force compliance or voluntarily withdraw of access.
Are there any Canadians on the signal dev team, have any Canadians contributed a bug fix to the project, are there Canadians working for Signal in any other capacity? Those people could be subject to legal pressure by Canada due to their involvement with a project that is willing to bypass Canadian law. Pulling access is the easiest way to project the project whether is it the morally correct solution or not.
I can explain this a dozen more times but I can not understand it for you.
If C-22 becomes law Signal will stop serving Canadian users. You can use a VPN to access Signal but that is a direct action taken by you to bypass a regional block. If VPN providers also stop serving Canadian users, because that would violate a Canadian ban on encryption, how are you going to access Signal? If the Canadian government gives ISPs permission to block VPN providers operating outside of Canada how will you access Signal?
This isn’t a problem that gets fixed by sideloading an app onto your phone, this is a problem with Canadian law and Canadian politicians jerking off corporations.
Buddy, the service they provide is end to end encrypted messaging with no backdoor. If Canada makes that illegal, via c-22, then Signal will be operating an illegal service in Canada. They will block access to Canadian usesers to protect themselves from legal attack from the Canadian government.
Signal is a centralized platform, even with the software rely on Signal’s servers to make connections. Blocking access to Canadians is easier than fighting a legal battle with a federal government for facilitating encrypted communications with no backdoor.
THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT IS A PUPPET TO CORPORATE INTERESTS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN
Wages are depressed by a litany of loopholes provided to businesses. ISPs and cell providers are allowed to run effective monopolies in order to gouge Canadians. Grocery stores are allowed to conspire together to raise prices. Hosing prices are kept high by corporate landlords. Electrification is being delayed and fucking BILLIONS are being spend subsidizing oil and gas.
This is just another example of Canada saying “Yes, we will fuck Canadian citizens for as long and hard corporations tell us.” And the best part is, both of our two and a half parties are onboard with this.
If you need a VPN, use Mullvad: https://mullvad.net/en They are not the cheapest but they are the most privacy focused provider I have found.
Pull their app from in Canada, block connections to their servers from IPs owned by Canadian ISPs.
I’ve been imaging my W11 partition before updates. Such a pain in the dick,
This. You take a lifetime of wealth from Canada and then piss it down the drain in the most backwards part of the USA.
Oh the poor put upon employer.
The USA has been fucking us over for decades not just since they elected their god emperor. There is greenhouse produce available all year and frozen for the few times it is not.
You can, with a little effort, back up your steam install files. In the unlikely event that Valve pulls the rug users have the option to insure against it.
If their FEM software is anything like their industrial software I wouldn’t trust it to analyze a doorstop.
Siemens is a dogshit company. I work with LOADS of their industrial automation equipment, from 1989 S5 PLCs up to brand new 2026 hardware. The newer it gets the more it feels like it is directed by an MBA and designed by an intern, impossibly thin plastic connectors, 24v input cards that over heat, entire product lines that are obsoleted with no direct replacement.
Fuck’em. They are doing the same enshitification dance as the rest of the world.
The US barely plans 4 years into the future, China plans 40 years at a minimum.
You are focusing on the squirrel in your garden when there is a bear watching from the end of the driveway.