this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
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Researchers drove a NIO ES8 electric SUV deep into a Norwegian underground mine specifically to sever its external connections. The car kept attempting to reach servers, most of them located in China. These findings echo broader concerns about hidden data collection, similar to how a surveillance app was built to covertly target users without their knowledge.

That finding sits at the center of Project Lion Cage, a multi-year study initiated in 2022 by Tor Indstøy, a risk management and threat intelligence executive at Telenor Group. Indstøy purchased the NIO ES8 as a dedicated research platform.

The project arrives as Chinese EV brands expand across European markets with assurances about local data processing. Observed network behavior appears to contradict those assurances.

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[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

A more honest researcher would say "bought any vehicle from x country and it kept trying to contact servers in x country even after driving it into a mine". They lose credibility when they try to insinuate that this only happens with EVs and only with China made vehicles.

[–] Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago

I have no idea what the point is of driving it into a mine? Of course the client will keep trying to reconnect to the server, that's how software usually works...

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 16 points 21 hours ago

The car kept attempting to reach servers, most of them located in China

Now try the same experiment with cars from other countries.

And then let's hear from someone who can tell the world how to disable this anti-feature without breaking the car that we bought and paid for.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 59 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Why on Earth wouldn't it keep trying? That's how signals work. If my router goes down my computer is going to keep trying to connect to it even though it's off. That's not fucking news.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, I had the same thought when reading this

What a weird article

[–] toddestan@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My assumption would be that they drove the car into the mine to see what would (or wouldn't) work if the vehicle was cut off from the mothership. My hunch is they didn't really find anything of interest so this is what gets reported.

[–] freely1333@reddthat.com 7 points 23 hours ago

Also all us cars do the same thing and I would much rather have my data in China than the US.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Thank you!!!

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[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The car kept attempting to reach servers

To the surprise of whom?

ANY device that relies on radio signal communication for any of its functionality, taken anywhere (underground mine, parking garage, Antarctica, Santa's workshop, etc), and it'll try to maintain it's connections. That's just what they do.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago

Okay, but China Bad

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 5 points 23 hours ago

It would be extremely noteworthy if it stopped once it was out of range, because how would it know?

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My BMW checking if my bmw subscription is active when I'm trying to enable seat heater

[–] foo@feddit.uk 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I wonder what the security is like. I'd love to know how difficult it would be to set up a mock-service to just tell it you have everything.

You'd expect there to be encryption and some kind of certificate validation to check the response is trustworthy, but given what we now know about the CAN bus that many cars use, and how vulnerable it is to attack, it suggests the motor industry is way behind the times in terms of security.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 1 points 10 hours ago

Fbi wants to know your location

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It would just be easier to wire it directly to a switch.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, that’s the thing. It’s not like a transistor in a microchip or something; it’s a wire you can work with.

I bet BMW makes the disassembly needed an absolute pain, though.

[–] stinkytofuisgood@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Somebody smarter than I will definitely delve into the guts of incoming Chinese EVs and figure out what part(s) to strip to stop this...

And if you're in America and you have an EV, it's statistically likely to be a Tesla. Tesla has starlink compatibility baked into their cars too and you'd better believe that sweet juicy data is being shared around.

If I was stuck with a Tesla against my will, I'd at least try the same thing for it, too.

[–] Fedegenerate@fedinsfw.app 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Step 1: make a PiHole

Step 2: examine every thing the PiHole blocks from calling home

Step 3: research small holdings

Step 4: throw it all out and go farm Llamas

Seriously, I own a Firestick as a jellyfin client. It's network access is limited to local only. Anyway, here's one entry from that Firestick on one PiHole:

global.telemetry.insights.video.a2z.com 42590

Number is the number of times my PiHole has smacked it down. One entry, from one stick, to one PiHole (I have a redundant one too).

[–] sapetoku@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ah, because neither Google nor Apple track their users and would never, ever share said data with US (or other) agencies... right? RIGHT?

[–] CriticalThought@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure. Don't worry about this bad behavior, because others engage in it, and it's not like anyone calls out US tech privacy issues. I struggle to imagine someone naturally reacting this way. Are you for real?

I agree it is something we should worry about and pay attention too, but just because something occurs doesn't mean it was nefarious on purpose. Apple is better than many, but let's say you have an iPhone. The iPhone is constantly reaching out and reporting it's location to the findmy app that is only accessible by the users. If that phone is in a cave performing this test, it will be reaching out continuously similar to this car. Apple doesn't sell that data, but where it becomes a breach of privacy is that if a judge gives a warrant, Apple has to turn it over. (So suddenly it isn't only accessible to the user meaning verification is NORMALLY required to allow Apple to access the data, but they could bypass said verification.

So does that mean no one should ever enable find my on their devices... Maybe, but people weigh it against whatever they find useful about it.

[–] 7rokhym@lemmy.ca 3 points 23 hours ago

My Chev calls the US!

[–] Shayeta@feddit.org 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'd like to not be spied on. But if forced to choose, I would rather be spied on by a foreign goverment than a domestic one.

[–] myyass@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Why not both? You're only choosing your data broker.

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I have Chinese manufactured IP cameras. they do not connect to the internet. yet, they still attempt to connect to Chinese servers at least once a minute.

this has been going on for at least 15 years.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

they do not connect to the internet. yet, they still attempt to connect to Chinese servers

Via?

[–] YeahToast@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have an Chinese manufactured American developed phone. It connects to an American server frequently.

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[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can't this be solved with legislation? I mean, all they have to do is say "no vehicles may be sold within our borders if they attempt to communicate with any servers." Vehicles never did this 15 years ago and it's insane they operate like massive phones with wheels now.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

that would be the only sensible approach, but we all know it will never happen

[–] GMac@feddit.org 141 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (26 children)

Chinese ev bus behaves like every John Deere tractor, Tesla, amazon ring doorbell, windows pc, mac, smart tv, iphone and android device , and probably every other car made since 2020.

"But China bad" is getting pretty old and frail in comparison to the domestic and international predations and privacy invasions of US tech businesses and government

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

“But China bad” is getting pretty old and frail in comparison to the domestic and international predations and privacy invasions of US tech businesses and government

ah, the "DON'T CRITICIZE CHINA" is getting even fucking older and frailer in comparison.

Especially when it says right in the article that its doing the exact opposite of what was promised.

Which, if any other countries product was doing that, you'd have a fit over it and not be sitting there going having a big whinge fest about the unfair persecution.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (6 children)

DON’T CRITICIZE CHINA

We put a machine with a radio in a room and the radio continued to try and function.

This is why we cannot import low priced, high quality foreign made electric engines.

if any other countries product was doing that, you’d have a fit

Why? It's the same tired story, used to scare people who know nothing about communications technology. It's all about making "Buy American" a national security issue.

If Brazil or Italy or even the dreaded Russia was being accused of this, why wouldn't we stare sideways?

its doing the exact opposite of what was promised

I mean, remind me again why I'm trusting autos.yahoo.com on their reporting? Isn't Yahoo a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, a company with deep ties to the Epstein human trafficking cartel?

[–] phx@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah I'd be more interested in what it's sending. Go into a mine with your smartphone (or just an LG TV) and it'll be continually reaching out as well... but WHAT it's trying to receive or transmit is important.

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