How to disconnect your car from the internet

Our Take

Credit to Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency for digging into the practical side of car privacy — pulling fuses, disabling telematics modules, and generally refusing to let your dashboard phone home to the manufacturer. That's a real and growing problem: modern vehicles are rolling data collection platforms, and automakers have shown they'll sell your location and driving habits to anyone willing to pay. Cutting that cord is a legitimate, worthwhile step.

But here's the catch we have to flag every time this topic comes up: unplugging your car's modem does nothing about the cameras bolted to utility poles, gas stations, and neighborhood entrances. Flock Safety and similar automated license plate reader networks don't care whether your car has a cellular connection — they photograph your plate, your car's make and color, sometimes bumper stickers, and timestamp your location every time you drive past one, whether you're in a '98 Civic or a brand-new EV stuffed with sensors. The surveillance isn't coming from inside your vehicle; it's coming from the infrastructure around it, often installed without most residents ever voting on it or even knowing it's there.

So treat this video as one piece of a bigger privacy puzzle, not a finish line. Disabling your car's internet connection is good hygiene against corporate telematics harvesting — but it's a different fight than the one against government and HOA-funded camera dragnets tracking every car that passes, regardless of what's under the hood. Check our map to see what's watching your street, and hit take action if you want to push back on it.