I find this interesting due to the federal government’s policy on Chinese cameras and mobile phones, and how popular Chinese cars are becoming. Will there be restrictions placed on these vehicles in regards to federal sites especially military bases?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-22/byd-ev-privacy-policy-update-china-surveillance-four-corners/107168584?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link
16 Comments
You can bring any brand of phone on military bases. If there is a secure area, all phones regardless of brand are put in a locker before entering. I don’t think a car being a BYD will change much, maybe advice will be given out to avoid chats about sensitive topics in the cars.
Two Chinese surveillance companies were implicated sending video data back to China, including from security cameras in government buildings.
China being the biggest surveillance state on the planet isn’t particularly new information.
And yes, if you’re buying a BYD, your privacy should be a concern.
Once again the government is late to the party when it comes to technology. We seem to have a great track record to reverse engineer policy after the horse has bolted.
I don’t have a direct answer but all I can say is the level of hypocrisy is a joke and hard to take serious.
Tesla, palantir, Meta, Google and all the other tech bros are already sitting on their cuck chairs watching us all.
Well they better fucking should be!
Like anyone reads a privacy policy
Bought a Jaecoo J5 and it doesn’t have a sim. Slightly inconvenient but no biggie.
Can we just ban all cameras and microphones, data logging and network connections in cars?
If it’s a security risk with one foreign power, then it’s a security risk with any private corporation.
I wonder how something like the Mazda 6e will be treated (just recently got one). It’s a Japanese badge but made in China by Changan Automobile. Changan is state owned, whereas BYD is private. Which is the higher risk I wonder?
Anyway, the competition Chinese car makers have brought to the market is awesome. Think the cat’s out the bag with this one and we should just accept our new Chinese overlords.
I am an absolute nobody. My data can be sold in a bundle of bytes, but it adds almost no value.
Well, we’re all being monitored by Palantir and if your information is stored in Microsoft Azure or AWS then the US government has access to it.
I’m not actually sure, as a civilian who works in the non-classified world, that China’s state intelligence apparatus is any more harmful to me than the US’ spies.
There’s already guidance regarding CVs for fed gov and sensitive sites.
Publicly facing, last June: https://www.cyber.gov.au/protect-yourself/securing-your-devices/how-secure-your-devices/introduction-to-connected-vehicles
This May/June ASIO DDG statement etc https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/able-to-get-information-australias-spy-watchdog-targets-connected-cars-chinese-evs/
This sounds like a job for the EU – forcing car manufacturers to provide an “opt in” model for comms and data collection. Here’s hoping…
Modern tech producers need a lesson in positive consent. If people (both buyers of your product, and members of the public who your product inadvertently surveils) aren’t given the opportunity to provide positive consent to your data collection, then your product is not fit for sale and should be regulated.
We don’t accept this behaviour for any other good or service, why does modern tech get a free pass to ignore the principles of positive consent?
Are they changing anything real, or just the words?
A car having a privacy policy is crazy.