Enshitification, Keyless Entry, and the flawed persuit of convenience.

24/10/2024

Enshitification isn't exactly a popular word. It was coined by Cory Doctorow in 2022 and is commonly associated with him, as he's certiantly the most well known person to use it regularly. That said, I'm sure you'll think of examples you've experienced as soon as I describe it to you.

Enshitification is when a product or service, usually in the tech industry, becomes worse - despite the fact the provider has everything going for them (Better tech, money, staff, etc). Enshitification is usually a choice made in an attempt to maximise profits. I will desribe it in detail in another post. For now just bare in mind as I talk about car keys.

The problem keyless entry solves

Bare in mind that before keyless entry/start, entry to a car was controlled with a remote fob that responded to user commands, and starting was controlled by a combination of a key and a signal with a range of a few inches (basically requiring the key to be inserted to reach the imobiliser). This system became popular in the early 00's and within a few years car theft plumeted in the UK - because even if you got in, it was hard to get it going without the key and it's imobiliser signal.

The problem? If your hands are full, trying to get your key out of your pocket can be tricky and you'll need to put your stuff on the floor to free your hands. With keyless entry you just walk to the car and it just unlocks...

but....

....it doesn't open. I've never heard anyone point this out before, but keyless entry doesn't even solve the problem it set out to solve, because even though your car is now unlocked, it isn't open. Meaning you'll still need to use your hand to open a door. At which point, the original system, if used with a keyfob/car that supports opening the boot remotely, is actually better! since it only requires one button press!

Okay, but why is this a problem?

Older keyfobs are brilliant because the unlocking signal is only sent when a user explictly asks for it. This means a potential theif has to happen to be present when you unlock your car if they want to use that signal... and not only are you already there at the car, the car's also already unlocked... so they don't gain much from that. The signal used to start the car is so short range, it's basically impossible to grab without actually having the key, at which point, you have the key and would just use it.

The newer method ditches both of these qualities. The unlocking signal in many cars is sent constantly - in some, it's only sent for a few minutes after movement has occured, but that's still far longer than the original style. Furthermore, the Signal to start the car is also sent, now to a distance of several meters sometimes (Now, it tends to only be a few feet - that is still far further than before).

Unless you live in a Manshion, you're more than likely within a few meters of a wall at any time. That means it all can take is a theif being on the other side of that wall, listening for your keys signals and sending them on to the car. There is an actual connection between the Car and the Key, so there's basically no way for either to detect this attack.

It goes beyond starting

Modern cars aren't entirely stupid. If you were to just start a car like this and drive away, you'd quickly lose the signal and the car would lock again. However, there's a feature in almost all cars that whoever decided keyless entry clearly didn't think about - almost all cars have systems built in to program new keys. They have to have this in case keys are lost or fail. In older cars, this was not really an issue since the key had to be inserted to use it. Now cars can easily be tricked into thinking the key is present though, this is a massive security hole that allows to theives to easily steal a car. One relaying a signal from a key in a house to the car, and the other in a car creating a new key that they can then use to drive the car as much as they like.

All of this over a fucking button

Tracker, one of the major stolen car recovery companies in the UK, say that 90% of stolen cars they recovered in 2020 were keyless. You're telling me that my 21 year old dinger is 90% less likely to be nicked because it has a outdated security system? What kind of ballocks is that?

To add insult to injury, ADAC tested over 300 cars way back in 2017, and found almost all of them were vulnerable to relay attacks. Yet the way these keys work hasn't changed much since.

I don't know about you, but I think my car being stolen is a bit more inconvienient than pressing a button. Just my opinion. This is a major cause of enshitification, hence why I mentioned it - consumers are sold convinience more and more often instead of an actually good product. Here, convinience has been given to us in exchange for security on the second most expensive thing we're responsible for (I would say "own" - but who owns a home anymore?). Even worse is the fact that there is actually no convininece gained at all because even though you don't have to push a button, you still have to open a door, meaning you still need a hand free.

"Just get a faraday bag/cage" is a common arguement for keyless entry, but it is also an admission that keyless entry is less secure as it's literally a recommendation to by additional security measures you didn't need before. Even worse, having to put your key in the exact same place every time you go home again doesn't sound very convinient.

This might sound like a one off, but this attempt to solve a problem that barely exists, not actually solve it at all, and make something worse in the processes is very common, I can think of several more examples just related to cars alone, but I won't bore you. All of this often goes hand-in-hand with enshitification as companies sell us products that haven't been fully thought out in an attempt to maximise the features they can market to us - and therefore make more money.

Is there a solution?

Given the range the signals have to have for this to be useful, there isn't a solution that avoids you pressing a button to unlock (at which point it's basically not keyless entry anymore). You could make it so that cars only have keyless entry (not keyless start) - and the key has to be inserted to start the car or program keys. That would allow keyless entry to work, but still protect the car from theft. I can't see any reasons for keyless start since at that point, you have nothing in your hands so getting to your keys is a easy task. This still leaves your car vulnerable to break ins, though. The only sure fire way is to make keyless entry have very short range any only function a very short time after movement - many keys with motion sensors still run for minutes, it should be seconds.

Still, that make a key a lot more complicated, again, just to avoid pressing a button. It seems silly. Cars can still be more effecient (although their size these days makes me wonder if manufacters want that), cars can have more advanced diagnostic systems that tell users and technicains exactly what's been detected, etc... there are areas to improve. Pushing a single damn button isn't a problem that really needs solving and I think we should just return to the proven method that is quite literally as convinient as something can be without being fully automated.

It's one damn button

If you're still not convinced, I have one last thing for you. How come houses don't have automatic, remote, keyless entry like modern cars?