Hey, that's my line.

Me too.

Exhausted.

James Brown, in his later years, believed he was being surveilled by electronic devices in his teeth. When we read “that’s a thing” next year and no one acts surprised you can forgive him his PCP usage.

Bro, ongoing government surveillance. No one should be surprised by that now. The mask is off.

However, the researchers found that these tire sensors also send a unique ID number in clear, unencrypted wireless signals, meaning that anyone nearby with a simple radio receiver can capture the signal, and recognize the same car again later

Its not quite the same ball game. Sure its not great that the government can track easily with ALPRs, but this type of tracking is available to nearly anyone and could be used for significant crimes like stalking or human trafficking. It can also be done without a sightline of the car, unlike a camera system.

Not to mention the cell phone most of us carry.

Yep. I remember watching a documentary on how to disappear. Car tires and windshields were both covered, because they can contain traceable technology. This was a decade ago, at least.

This seems like a real stretch.

TPMS signals are too weak to read even 6 ft from the wheels.

Or just replace your tyres with ones with non sensor.

That said it is a little annoying. My dash is forever telling me it can't talk to the tyres.

As someone who has gotten a flat and not noticed until the tire was destroyed multiple times, I love TPMS systems. They save me money in the long run as the tire can be patched instead of replaced.

Flock right now advertises that they can track vehicles by bumper stickers and cosmetic damage.

TPMS batteries last a long time because they are transponders, they use very little energy, but they eventually die.

The batteries last about 10 years.

I've had one die, and just waited to replace it until I needed new tires. It was like $100 extra to replace all 4, so I don't have to worry for another decade

The system required to make them hard wired would be immensely over complicated to allow the wheels to still turn. Where ever the wire exits would also have been additional point for leaks to occur.

It also had a numberplate, I assume?

On the other hand, my 21 year old vehicle has none of it, and my GrapheneOS phone isn't tracking me either. We didn't all just give up like you did.

GPS in itself does not do anything, as it does not send, only receive. but even for mobile data, on your phone you have the choice to turn on airplane mode to disable communications. on your car, there's nothing like it.

also, arguably iphones are more private than any internet connected car.

You are correct, the only thing worth mentioning is when the laws were created/written it did not account for someone creating a database that is easily searchable/queried to infer all these extra habits of people.

Its one thing visually seeing someone over and over walk or drive by your house while you sit on your porch. It's another thing to now know where they came from and where they went if you were able to sit on every porch at the same time in a town or city.

This is why police tails need to be granted by a judge, but a interconnected network of cameras at the moment does not recieve the same scrutiny.

They mention this in the article. The difference is that since the tire sensor sends out an RF signal, direct line of sight isn't necessary. You could throw a tracker up on a roof and grab signals from a block over.

The missing part may be tying that signal to a specific car, but say your car gets pulled over - they could read your tires' sensor ID and compare it to where they captured it and bam! Now you're fucked.

Build a large enough catalogue of bulk data and anything can be used to track you.

We bought "It's just so we can catch the terrorists!" hook, line, and sinker post-9/11.

But when "terrorism" is redefined as "making people in power upset," we're in big trouble.

So don't say anything rude about Donald Trump or the FBI will seek you out:

https://invidious.perennialte.ch/watch?v=QS4bVx74nxU

It seems easier to set up a camera and scan the license plate for identification instead of using radios for logging TPMS sensors.

Would it be an advantage to identify a car by logging the TPMS sensors?

Any car or any tire?

Unfortunately, I do. And they lock you in to licensed vendors just for your seasonal tyre change.

Looks like my next car is going to be an antique.

Your car insurance might be interested to know this fact.

I bought cheap tires from Walmart for both cars and the tpms failed on both cars.

The rfid tag is probably still good and whatever is on the receiving end isn't working.

Apparently it's an active system these days.