flightexpert

This thread is awesome

How about some free Neverlost? I mean, if you're going to get spied on and then go ahead and get lost anyway, why pay full price for it, am I right?

https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/q-100...-special-offer

docbert

I got one of these a few weeks ago from LAX.

I didn't enough time to play with it much, but I did find that on one of the menus (I think the one where it shows status of the Wifi/wireless/etc) it had an entry that said something like :
Camera - Off

From a legal perspective, in California at least it would be highly illegal for them to do audio, but video is a bit of a grey area... Other states will obviously vary.

flightexpert

Make sure you purchase the LDW if you're gonna do that

logicuser

There is obviously a mic in the phone and certainly a camera also but I believe one can turn the phone off. You control what you share about you through social media. Having a camera in the car that someone else can turn on but you can't turn off is taking the spying to different level. I can't believe you are not more outraged about this. I rented two Hertz cars this week and refused to take cars with the new Neverlost.

GW McLintock

If you fold the rental contract in half and put it over the camera, they can't see you. I can totally control what they see

Who says they're looking, anyway? Do they really care?

Perhaps this will catch the jerks who don't fill up the tank after rentals even though the needle is still on F, or people who smoke in the car and try to cover it up. They're probably not smart enough to cover the camera. I'm all for it ^

-J.

logicuser

It is attitudes like yours GW that has caused any privacy that we ever had in the US to simply evaporate forever. It is not the government but private, for profit, corporations that want every last bit of information about you.

GW McLintock

What could Hertz possibly want that I would so desperately need to hide? They have my driver's license AND credit card(s) on file already so it's not like I'm trying to hide my identity. Are they going to sell the videos as sex tapes? Stalk me? See me making secret dealings with Avis?

I totally understand what you're trying to say, but I seriously don't think it's relevant here. Is big brother watching us? Yes -- through traffic cameras, people on the street, maybe this NeverLost camera too. But so what? It's in a rental car, not my bathroom. And the car isn't even mine.

-J.

flightexpert

I agree with you about the general loss of privacy, but I think BOTH the government AND corporations want our information. GW McLintock is definitely correct that Hertz's NeverLost camera is among is the least of our problems in that regard.

TomBrady

piece of electrical tape, did the job for me

fly no more

I too got a car with this GPS version. On the top of the tablet, to the right, there is a mechanical switch - that has an "off" position, and 3 other positions of the camera if you twist it from the off position.

It looks like you can keep it in the off position, and the camera will not be viewing at the cabin. I am not sure though if they can turn it on remotely, but it would be obvious if they did that, since the switch on top would move.

It does not seem to be that big of a concern, since the camera when off is positioned internally away from the interior.

zhutch

Bringing this thread back up because i recently rented a corolla that had the new system in it. While the system overall is great (except the sheer obnoxiousness of the unit--it completely covered up several buttons and the passenger wasn't able to use the "tune" dial for the radio), no where in any of the information about the new system does it say what the camera is actually for! I have nothing to hide while driving their car, but you'd think with such an obvious breech of privacy that they would come out and explicitly state what the purpose of the camera is. We have assumed it's to video chat with the NeverLost Concierge, but it's just strange to me that no where on their websites about the new NL system does it come out and say that.

davew277

It doesn't bother me. I have nothing to hide. A person should not expect privacy while in public nor while in a vehicle someone else owns. You'd really hate to be famous... They are lucky to get privacy at home.

Bottom line is if they really wanted to spy on people they could mount a camera in a place that isn't so obvious, like in the ventilation duct or something. I don't know the legalities of it, but I don't see how putting a camera in property you own could be considered illegal. With exception of places where people are "meant" to undress in some way.

2015carrentalexpert

I have rented on average 3 cars a week in over 19 cities in USA and Canada. What you find " Completely Unacceptable " is completely slander. You sensationalize a story that is totally misleading the public. You simply turn the camera switch off. They all have a switch. "Your further investigation revealed the camera could see inside the entire car". How did you investigate that? By moving it? You know how this GPS is attached to the inside of a vehicle so it can be moved for drivers of all heights. Yes that's right it tilts up and down and sideways. You can move the GPS if you feel like it is watching you. I was very impressed with this newer version they now have. Most cars have hands free cell phone for the radio. But each car is different to set up. This GPS makes it easier. Being in the presidents circle has it privileges. I can change my profile online it is so easy. You can as well just simply request on you profile that you do not want this model GPS or none at all.
Rather than creating a false story then dramatizing it. But next time you use your smart phone use your thumb to cover the lens pretty good odds the NSA is watching you you check you messages or search something up.

flightexpert

What a strange post. I smell a shill.

CalItalian

I know. Especially since the Hertz Spy Cam story was so prominently displayed on the Drudge Report today (right below the header) from a story on Friday.
http://fusion.net/story/61741/hertz-...n-rental-cars/