Legality of removing sim cards from cars in Australia (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Does anyone know about the legality of removing the built-in sim cards from your car, specifically in Australia?

I don't intend on using any car smart-features when I get one. For context, I've never owned a car. When I do get one though, I intend to remove the sim card to prevent the car's location from being constantly tracked. All I care about in terms a cars functionality is a radio, a CD drive (Yes, I use CD's), and Bluetooth audio, so I don't think removing the sim card should affect this much, if at all. Any knowledge and advice would be appreciated, thankyou!

Update: What I was referring to is an eSim, which appears not to be in the form of a physical card. Even so, if possible, I would like to disable the functionality of this eSim assuming the car I purchase has one in-built. From my research, I cannot find anything that explicitly forbids disabling or removing Sims.

(page 2) 20 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Tesla allow you to opt out of all connectivity

It means you would have no maps, no driver assist, no Internet radio

Anyway if you buy a car it is yours. The worst you can do is break the contact for whatever services are provided by the connectivity. You are allowed to modify a car however you like

Tesla don't support CD. You'd need to rip those to mp3 and keep them on your phone to play over Bluetooth

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

You are allowed to modify a car however you like

I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Like, even if we are not taking about adding a badly welded 4 wheel attachment without the use of a trailer hook, the car will have to go through technical inspection every few years.
If the inspectirs deem that a non-functional such system is a problem, you'll not be driving your car anywhere.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

If your modification makes it unroadworthy, you might not be allowed to drive it on public roads

If your modification changes its structure you may need certification that it is still roadworthy

I'm not seeing a case where you're restricted by law from modifying the car

Software has special legal protections. You can stop it working with impunity, you can break it with impunity, you cannot legally defeat security on the software. Corey Doctorow calls the software protections "felony contempt of business model"

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

This site may help you pick a car without a full-time connection. https://vehicleprivacyreport.com/report/

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago

If it doesn't have a full-time connection, it's still possible to have an eSim, right?

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments

this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2024

87 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy Guides

16167 readers

193 users here now

In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.

You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Learn more...

Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!

This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.

Moderation Rules:

We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]