Intelligence and cybersecurity experts are warning the Liberal government about national security risks posed by allowing Chinese electric vehicles onto Canadian military bases.

Critics and some experts are even calling on Ottawa to ban the cars from Canadian Armed Forces bases and other sensitive sites due to onboard sensors they say could collect and transmit sensitive information to the Chinese government.

Their warning comes after Poland and Israel instituted similar bans on EVs built by Chinese companies like BYD Auto over the past year — and as Conservative politicians in Canada raise the alarm over the threat of so-called “spy cars.”

Dennis Molinaro, a counter-intelligence expert at Ontario Tech University and a former national security analyst, said the federal government should follow the example of Poland and Israel.

“Absolutely, Canada should be doing the same,” he told The Canadian Press. He said a national security law in China that appears to compel private companies to funnel intelligence back to Beijing could make the cars a security risk.

David Shipley, CEO of Beauceron Security, said the risks are high enough that Parliament should at least haul military brass and senior bureaucrats in front of a committee to testify about National Defence’s plans for managing those risks.

“The Chinese sometimes send us a good signal about what the risks are,” Shipley said. “They banned Teslas from their major political events and military bases for the same reason Israel is banning their BYDs.”

  • nebula
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    4 hours ago

    Why not do something that’d solve this once and for all like:

    • Forcing the companies to have open source software for transmission unit so it can be vetted what they are transmitting
    • Mandatory requirement to make the network connectivity optional, if someone wants they should be able to just pull the transmission module out. Not everyone wants/likes constant surveillance.

    And this should be for all vehicles irrespective of country of origin or make

  • Auli
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    11 hours ago

    So having American cars spy on us is fine?

  • PeriodicallyPedantic
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    15 hours ago

    Why specifically EVs?

    They should ban any electronics from adversarial foreign nations.
    They’re not gonna because good luck getting any electronics manufactured outside of China, but banning EVs specifically when people have phones and computers and watches and etc, well it seems kind of pointless and arbitrary.

  • kbal@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    I don’t know anything specific about how bad the Chinese EVs typically are, but they should definitely ban Teslas.

  • StinkyFingerItchyBum
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    1 day ago

    I miss the days when cars were affordable transportation. Now they are surveillance devices that can deliver undesirables to concentration camps or assasinate anyone with plausible deniability.

    I want an EV with 1970’s features. Like this Porsche 911, but no OTA updates possible. It should be illegal.

    No android. No gps. No cameras. No OTA updates. No telemetry. It’s not an electronic leash, it’s a noose.

  • SGforce
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    1 day ago

    Do they realise every Tesla is loaded with cameras?

  • maplesaga@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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    24 hours ago

    The US will be at war with China soon enough, and the government will force a ban. Because the US no longer buys US debt, so war will be inevitable.

  • dominic.borcea@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    Oh yeah, any NATO member who does not limit the outflow of critical military information to China should be treated as a pariah by other member states, it is a grave security risk.

  • mrdown@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    You will never persuade prople to not support chinese ev. Keep losing your time