Remove, disable, render inoperable all telematics and other data sending signals

[UglyViking]

I'm looking to see if anyone has access to whatever schematics for removing any and all features that "call home" or send data out about my vehicle, including and up to the GPS in the truck. I've seen a few members post images of wire bundles and routing of the vehicle, so I'm curious if this data exists somewhere I can view and pull from.

Before I get all the "why do you want to do that" questions I'll answer them now and simply, because I love my truck but don't want it sending data out. I want privacy and anonymity with my vehicles. I'm not planning anything illegal, I understand my phone sends out a bunch of data on me, and my laptop as well, bla bla bla. I work in the tech field and understand how all this works pretty deeply, but I'm unfamiliar with automotive systems. I want to turn my vehicle into a 90s sedan in terms of data telemetry, and if I lose certain features those are at my discretion.

I also understand the easiest thing do to would be to buy a 90s sedan/truck and call it a day. There are a lot of things that are easy but I'm not asking about those options. I want to gut the things like onstar, and if I can simply remove a connection that is great, but I'm guessing that most (perhaps all) of the sensors in the truck connect to the BCM and use a shared antenna or set of antennas. I've not yet poked around with alfaobd but I'm looking for a more hardware centric approach to this, which could be pulling fuses, disconnecting antennas, and/or reconnecting fake loads to make them think they are connected.

I'm guessing no one has explored this yet, perhaps I'm wrong. If you have access to that sort of schematic please let me know, feel free to PM if that is preferred.

Also, on a related topic, I'm toying around with a similar kill switch for all lighting, or all but select lighting. I sometimes drive at night on private land with night vision and the ability to kill internal and external lighting (except for some externally mounted IR lights) would be really cool to do. I'm sure I could probably learn a thing or two from the cartel smugglers but well this gringo doesn't want to risk that for obvious and numerous reasons

Anyway, if anyone can provide any direction it would be great. Please save any comments asking me "why" or "sounds illegal" etc. as I don't really want to get into any of those discussions on this thread.

Cheers!

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Good luck. You being in the tech industry should understand that no matter what, they are all watching us. Hard to be anonymous anymore or completely off the gird.

If you haven't seen the show on Fox called neXt, you should watch it or look it up. Interesting show. Read that all of the tech they have on the show is real, they didn't make anything up. It will really open your eyes even more as to how much they know about you and can track you. I've experienced some of it first hand. Apple is one of the bad ones.

 

[UglyViking]

Good luck. You being in the tech industry should understand that no matter what, they are all watching us. Hard to be anonymous anymore or completely off the gird.

If you haven't seen the show on Fox called neXt, you should watch it or look it up. Interesting show. Read that all of the tech they have on the show is real, they didn't make anything up. It will really open your eyes even more as to how much they know about you and can track you. I've experienced some of it first hand. Apple is one of the bad ones.

I don't want to get deep into the woods as that isn't the topic I aim for here, so if you want to discuss further we can open another thread.

That said, I've not seen the show but I've spent a lot of time researching some of the programs that both tech companies and state actors have for tracking. While difficult it is possible to give your self privacy, security and anonymity online. Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Yes, mostly. Michael Bazzell has written a few books about OSIT and extreme privacy.

My request here is mainly around where do I get the schematics and data on these trucks? I've seen the body builders data, but it's not the same as the semi-transparent images I've seen others post here.

 

[Linked4door]

I can see what I can pull from AllDATA for you, but @Jimmy07 would be the best resource for this. Could you fill out your signature or provide your truck specs? Lots of different features in these trucks, and there isn't just one diagram that works for all trucks.

 

[UglyViking]

I can see what I can pull from AllDATA for you, but @Jimmy07 would be the best resource for this. Could you fill out your signature or provide your truck specs? Lots of different features in these trucks, and there isn't just one diagram that works for all trucks.

That would be awesome.

I updated my sig, but below contains additional information:
2019 2500 Laramie CCSB 4x4 6.7 Cummins
bucket seats with center console and wireless charging pad
towing tech group
sport package
level 2 group
8.4" nav
sirius xm
blind-spot sensors
clearance lamps
led bed lighting

 

[Great White North Eh]

Go buy 50 rolls of tin foil and form into a big @$$ foil hat for your roof . Seriously though good luck and if you figure something out let us know. I agree that many of the features should be owner selectable. Big fight going on in the agricultural industry between farmers and Deere on who owns the technology (all operating systems) in ag tractors. Deere says the corporation owns the tech and it is just the farmers/consumers privilege to sit in their seats and not own their tractor/ combine they just dropped $500,000 - $1,000,000 on.

 

[flan]

My poor man T-man does not even have nav, not sure if there’s any tracking per say, minus the “black box” that can capture crash information.

 

[Linked4door]

This should get you started. The one labeled "POOR OR NO GPS RECEPTION" shows what the resistance should be for the GPS incase you want disable it with out actually disconnecting it. This way you could just change the resistance out of spec to make it not work.

EDIT: if you need a copy of any of the hyper links I can add them. Just reply with the name of the hyperlink and I can get that added.

 

[UglyViking]

This should get you started. The one labeled "POOR OR NO GPS RECEPTION" shows what the resistance should be for the GPS incase you want disable it with out actually disconnecting it. This way you could just change the resistance out of spec to make it not work.

EDIT: if you need a copy of any of the hyper links I can add them. Just reply with the name of the hyperlink and I can get that added.

Thank you for this!

Do you happen to have access to where the "AM/FM CELLULAR SIGNAL-LTE1" connector connects to the BCM? I'd think that disconnecting that, as well as the GPS should remove the majority of the connections.

Additionally, any info on disconnecting onstar/xm? Those are also two major sensors.

I'm in the process of building a diy sensor for RF/BT/WiFi data, so I should be able to use that to test both before and after for signal being emitted from the truck.

 

[UglyViking]

Go buy 50 rolls of tin foil and form into a big @$$ foil hat for your roof . Seriously though good luck and if you figure something out let us know. I agree that many of the features should be owner selectable. Big fight going on in the agricultural industry between farmers and Deere on who owns the technology (all operating systems) in ag tractors. Deere says the corporation owns the tech and it is just the farmers/consumers privilege to sit in their seats and not own their tractor/ combine they just dropped $500,000 - $1,000,000 on.

Yeah, not a big fan of what Deere and Apple are pushing from that perspective. I get it, from their POV they are trying to protect their profits, but it should be obviously illegal. I know certain states (MA for example) are working to pass, or recently passed from from of "right to repair". I hope that becomes a federally enforced law with some teeth.

My poor man T-man does not even have nav, not sure if there’s any tracking per say, minus the “black box” that can capture crash information.

I believe the black box is all on unit data. As long as I can remove the physical sensors, I should be able to block it from sending that data out. I'm less concerned with the data on the vehicle, as while I would love to have the control to lock it down, I realize it may be tricky or at least more time investment than I'd be interested in considering my personal security threat profile.

 

[Jimmy07]

You don’t physically have to do anything on the truck. You can go on the site and opt out of everything, and they’ll kill the data connection remotely. Outside of that, you’d have to open up the radio module and remove the wireless card off the circuit board.

 

[Linked4door]

Attached are the connectors for the antennas and related circuits they are part of.

 

[Linked4door]

Attached are the BCM connectors

 

[UglyViking]

You don’t physically have to do anything on the truck. You can go on the site and opt out of everything, and they’ll kill the data connection remotely. Outside of that, you’d have to open up the radio module and remove the wireless card off the circuit board.

Well if I can remove the antenna it's going to remove that capability. As for just opting out, while that is an option it requires a lot of trust that the company won't ignore it, or that my account won't become compromised in a way that can enable it. As we have seen with Google and Apple in the past the "opt out" isn't a guaranteed way to prevent tracking.

@Linked4door thanks for providing these. I'll download and review them all tonight. Hopefully I'll have a proof of work in the next few weeks as I'm able to piece together the hardware for the scanner. Sadly a lot of the cheap boards are hard to come by right now so it may be a delay.

 

[Jimmy07]

Well if I can remove the antenna it's going to remove that capability. As for just opting out, while that is an option it requires a lot of trust that the company won't ignore it, or that my account won't become compromised in a way that can enable it. As we have seen with Google and Apple in the past the "opt out" isn't a guaranteed way to prevent tracking.

@Linked4door thanks for providing these. I'll download and review them all tonight. Hopefully I'll have a proof of work in the next few weeks as I'm able to piece together the hardware for the scanner. Sadly a lot of the cheap boards are hard to come by right now so it may be a delay.

Disconnecting the antennas isn’t enough. Data transmission will still go through at a slower rate. I don’t even have a cellular antenna on my truck, and I still received an over the air update on the 12” radio as soon as I transplanted it into my truck.

 

[Linked4door]

Disconnecting the antennas isn’t enough. Data transmission will still go through at a slower rate. I don’t even have a cellular antenna on my truck, and I still received an over the air update on the 12” radio as soon as I transplanted it into my truck.

Is it through the SDAR antenna instead of the cellular antenna then? Wouldn't their have to be some antenna or receiver to communicate

@Linked4door thanks for providing these. I'll download and review them all tonight. Hopefully I'll have a proof of work in the next few weeks as I'm able to piece together the hardware for the scanner. Sadly a lot of the cheap boards are hard to come by right now so it may be a delay.

If you need anything else just let me know.

 

[UglyViking]

Disconnecting the antennas isn’t enough. Data transmission will still go through at a slower rate. I don’t even have a cellular antenna on my truck, and I still received an over the air update on the 12” radio as soon as I transplanted it into my truck.

There has to be some additional antenna then. Don't get me wrong, a sensor can technically transmit and receive without an extended antenna, but it would have to be so close to the physical board that someone is inside the vehicle basically, at least assuming that it's a single antenna. Most radios do this same thing, and more expensive radios actually have hardware that senses when the load has changed in a way that indicates there is no antenna and will not send data as it could result in frying the electronics.

When you say you don't have a cellular antenna on your truck, what do you mean by that? I thought all trucks had the same antennas?

 

[jadmt]

I am the opposite I have a 2020 with non nav 8.4 and I wish I could do some of that over the air stuff like remote start and get over the air updates etc..

 

[Jimmy07]

Is it through the SDAR antenna instead of the cellular antenna then? Wouldn't their have to be some antenna or receiver to communicate

Nope. It’s cellular. You can even disconnect the SDARS antenna, and still get spotty xm reception heading in certain directions.
Many have tried all these proposed methods since Uconnect services came out in 2013, and none have succeeded. The only tried and true method is removing the wireless card from the radio module.

 

[Jimmy07]

When you say you don't have a cellular antenna on your truck, what do you mean by that? I thought all trucks had the same antennas?

I have a 2017 tradesman, so the only thing I have is the am/fm antenna, and the SDARS puck for xm radio.