Is On-Star really popular in the south?

[PSPS]

These ads on AAR featuring hysterical calls to On-Star seem to feature people who are almost exclusively southern. Is the product a big thing in the south? I don't know anyone who uses the service.

Personally, I'd never have On-Star, since they can remotely monitor the audio in your car and track your speed/location/movement without your knowledge.

[LTR]

1. It's featured in many GM vehicles over the past few years

Will become standard in all of them by 2007.

And it's not a spy device, or so they say:

http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/popup/explore/basics/helpful_info/onstar_know_where_I_am.jsp

Q. Does OnStar know where I am all the time?

A. OnStar takes your privacy very seriously. When you push the blue OnStar button — essentially calling OnStar — the system identifies your location. And should your air bag deploy, or if you report your vehicle stolen and file a police report, OnStar can work with authorities to attempt to locate the vehicle.* So it's only when you push the button to contact us or when we're responding to an emergency signal that we know where you are.

*Ability to locate vehicles varies with conditions.

More about it here:

http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/explore/index.jsp

Would I pay for it? Probably not. Not really worth it to me.

It's free for a year if you get a GM-equipped OnStar vehicle. And I'm sure you can opt-out of the free trial. Just tell the GM car salesman not to activate it. Or just unplug the cord to your rearview mirror.

[fiveleafclover]

2. Yeah, the monitoring thing is creepy

I know they sell it as a good thing, but I don't like it.

I live road trips. For one thing, I've always felt that hauling ass down the highway with a friend is the best time to spill your guts without worrying about anybody else overhearing. Why the hell would I want OnStar? No way.

They sell it like you GOTTA GET IT, or else you'll be in some wreck on a remote road where you'll be trapped for 3 days straining your own piss through a sock so you can drink it. They'll say anything to scare you enough to buy something. Then spy on your ass. Bastards.

Sorry, that's just the kind of thing that gets to me.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. In my neck of the woods we call it a

map.

[Atman]

4. I have an amazing device in my car...cheaper than OnStar

In fact, it's free! And it does the exact same thing in a real emergency.

It's a cell phone.

Any cell phone will do. It doesn't need to have service, just a charge; by law, cell phones are required to be able to dial out to 911 without a subscription to a service.

OnStar is a joke. Especially if you have a full cell account. I mean, what is the purpose? Press the OnStar button, and wait for an operator to take your call, who will then have to call someone else and repeat the information. Why not just pick up your damn cell phone and call for help?

ON EDIT...I wouldn't own it just on principle; I hate the emotional blackmail GM tries to play on you with their goddam commercials of little kids, obviously actors, describing car crashes. "Ow caw skidded on da ice, and I was ascared!" Then they stare their little puppy-dog eyes into the camera and say "If you won't protect us, who will?"

FUCK YOU, KIDDIES! TURN IN YOUR SAG CARDS! Tell Mom to put down the damn cell phone and pay attention to the damn road, that's who is supposed to protect you, not Big Brother in the sky!

[the_spectator]

10. I'm no fan of OnStar at all,

but I'm not a fan of cell phones either. Oh yeah, a cell phone will work in any emergency -- you can ALWAYS get through on a cell phone, right?:crazy:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. their disclaimers are bull

OnStar has the capacity to spy on anyone without a warrant. by allowing this 2 way communication system into a previously private region, you waive your constitutional rights against self-incrimination and you permit the authorities to listen to your every word.

That - from a law enforcement agent, rather highly placed, who enjoys Capt. Morgan enough to loosen his tongue. Apparently, it has worked extremely well with traffic stops for some narc stops.

the lesson is DO NOT PAY FOR OnSpy! If you are a guest in a vehicle, inquire whether they have it, then shut up.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[delete_bush]

8. Speaking of bullshit, you seem to have stepped in

a big pile of it. Reading up on the technology, as you suggest, one finds the following court ruling from Nov-2003:

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that the FBI is not legally entitled to remotely activate the system and secretly use it to snoop on passengers, because doing so would render it inoperable during an emergency.

In a split 2-1 ruling the majority wrote that "the company could not assist the FBI without disabling the system in the monitored car" and said a district judge was wrong to have granted the FBI its request for surreptitious monitoring.

The court did not reveal which brand of remote-assistance product was being used but did say it involved "luxury cars" and, in a footnote, mentioned Cadillac, which sells General Motors' OnStar technology in all current models. After learning that the unnamed system could be remotely activated to eavesdrop on conversations after a car was reported stolen, the FBI realized it would be useful for "bugging" a vehicle, Judges Marsha Berzon and John Noonan said.
When FBI agents remotely activated the system and were listening in, passengers in the vehicle could not tell that their conversations were being monitored. After "vehicle recovery mode" was disabled, the court said, passengers were notified by the radio displaying an alert and, if the radio was not on, the system beeping.

Now I ask you, who is the idiotic dipshit?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. you really think some mere legality would stop today's Justice?

I have serious doubts.

Many good friends and fellow attys work at justice here in the midwest. They are, uniformly, dismayed by their new marching orders. Most thought that Ashcroft was a menace. Gonzales is even worse.

[delete_bush]

13. I never said that, and I wouldn't say that.

My post was in response to the (now deleted) post attacking you personally for even suggesting the possibility that others can listen in on conversations in vehicles equipped with On-Star.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. sorry. me slow, me bad, me see. (you see, it all be about me)

I do have to think about replacing a vehicle soon, and as much as I hate US products of the 4 rubber wheel type, something small, efficient and unobstrusive would work. But I will guarantee, that if it has any standard equipment like OnSpy, I will not sign anything until and unless I see it, feel it, touch it and rip it out by its throat.


thanks, by the way. I never saw the other post. too much work to lurk with.

[delete_bush]

15. well, you missed a real stem winder,

a know-it-all called you an idiot for believing your friend, a dipshit because On-Star saves lives, and admonished you to read up on technology before posting because there is no way On-Star can listen in without an incident first prompting a call.

Curious, and not sure myself, I googled and found the court case mentioned above, making it quite clear that the ability to monitor without passenger knowledge is there.

So you're right, OnSpy has the ability to be used against its subscribers.

What I wonder is if a "hacker" type could get into their system. Hopefully the deleted message guy won't rip me a new one for asking such a question.

[Liberal In Texas]

6. Do I have an OnStar story for you. (And I'm in Texas)

So I just buy the new vehicle with complimentary OnStar for a year. Woo woo. Never use it.

Before my first oil change, I was rear-ended by a SBC truck on I-30 in Dallas. It kind of knocked me for a loop and not thinking way too clearly I pushed the "emergency" button on the mirror.

"Bling bling, OnStar..." and they went on to ask what happened and at the end of the transmission patched me over to the policeman that was coming to my aid.

I swear to god, both of us were amazed. He was dispatched to aid an accident in Dallas. He was a San Antonio State patrolman. The OnStar guy was so puzzled when we tried to tell him that SA was about a 6 hour drive to Dallas.

For the price and service. It's worthless. Don't buy it.

[Cocoa]

11. it's pretty safe to say

they won't be using your call in an ad. :-)

[txindy]

17. Weeeeell, okay, then. Where was this OnStar guy located? The US?

:shrug:

Geez. I hope you're okay. I got rear-ended at a traffic light by a truck once. Not fun. Nope.

[MaineDem]

12. The fact that they can unlock your doors creeps me out

It means they can do the opposite, too. Reminds me of that Stephen King story...Maximum Overdrive, maybe?...where the machines take over.

Creepy! :D

[nomatrix]

16. The ability to find your car if it is stolen

is one of the advantages they advertise. Your cell phone won't do that.

I was featured on an OnStar ad. It was a blizzard & I slipped getting out of the vehicle. The door sprung back & shut. I had hit the door lock during my fall.

It was running with my only set of keys in it. I called OnStar hoping they could unlock the door remotely. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well in a storm. If they can't open it remotely, they will send someone who will, at no charge. They did.