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super256
I would actually prefer VW to not add tracking capabilities to the car in the first place.
barbazoo
It's opt in and useful for many things people want to do.
sand500
It's only opt in if it requires additional hardware to be installed.
barbazoo
By that logic, is Tesla FSD also not opt in because the capability is already built in, just has to be activated via software?
0cVlTeIATBs
The hardware that users must remove from a Tesla to disable telemetry is opt-out.
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hgsgm
The article explains that it's not opt-in when the police order it.
suddenclarity
"Volkswagen" aka a random first line support employee who most likely never had experienced this situation before.
waste_monk
Doesn't matter. It was reasonably foreseeable that they would need to coordinate with law enforcement or other emergency services at some point. They should either have had a dedicated emergency centre like other services such as OnStar [1], or at least better training for their first-line representatives.

Luckily the child was unharmed. This situation could have ended up so much worse.

[1]https://www.onstar.com/public-safety/emergency-situations

gus_massa
Should the police be able to enable the tracking of my car without an order from a judge?
dharmab
This clearly falls under exigent circumstances, so yes in such a case.
waste_monk
They already have that power (or at least in my jurisdiction). Similar to being able to arrest you without a warrant if you are currently committing a crime.
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BoorishBears
VW is almost certainly outsourcing this to SiriusXM, and SirusXM has a fuzzy marketing oriented first responder page too: https://www.siriusxmcvs.com/safety-security/acn-plus/

And they train and provide the same resources as OnStar: https://publicsafety.siriusxmcvs.com/acnplus-training

And they have a number specifically for LEOs... just like OnStar: https://publicsafety.siriusxmcvs.com/vehiclelocationpolicy#S....

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But the reality is, this was an exceptional case with a system that's probably weighted towards the opposite: people falsely trying to get location info.

Honestly while Sirus/VW screwed up here, I'm surprised with an entire child missing no one would have managed to dig up the LEO hotline...

hgsgm
Impersonating law enforcement is a trivial way to steal data from LE-friendly vendors, because the police care more about buying weapons than setting up competent IT processes.
jhoelzel
If a car rental place would not have handed out a car, would we see the same article here?
DoItToMe81
Volkswagen should not even have this power to begin with. Jesus.
my_city
"Why communists say that capitalism puts profit over people?":