Senators Expose Car Companies’ Terrible Data Privacy Practices
www.eff.org
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week, Senators Ron Wyden and Edward Markey urged the FTC to investigate several car companies caught selling and sharing customer information without clear consent. Alongside details previously gathered from reporting by The New York Times, the...
  • mox@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    86·
    3 months ago

    Car makers should not sell our driving and location history to data brokers or insurance companies,

    Car makers should not have access to this information at all, except in cases when the owner chooses to give them a specific piece of it.

    (Similarly, phone makers should not have access to conversations and camera makers should not have access to videos, except in cases when the owner chooses to record and give them a specific piece.)

    I would support a law forbidding this sort of data collection, with stiff penalties for accidental violations and prison time for willful violations.

    • asyncopation@lemm.eeEnglish
      32·
      3 months ago

      It’s insane to me the complete lack of consumer protection in the digital age. Our cars used to be our sanctuary. A symbol of freedom and comfort. Now they’re dystopian nightmares that make me very uncomfortable.

      Not only that, but you have companies replacing apple/android auto with shit tech they have no business building. Predictably there are leaks all the time.

      Genuine question: are there any options out there for someone who wants a simple car and is willing to pay a little more to avoid built in spyware and subscriptions for every tiny feature?

      • ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        People have become accustomed to the corporate and government invasion of their lives little by little. This will most likely continue until it is too late.

        A sad world indeed.

        • asyncopation@lemm.eeEnglish
          8·
          3 months ago

          I wish you were wrong about the complicity of the consumer, but as you said, years of “nothing to hide” drilled into their brains has conditioned the majority to accept this status quo.

        • asyncopation@lemm.eeEnglish
          10·
          3 months ago

          Thanks. I’d pay more for an EV that doesn’t build in any tech at all outside of the primary function of the car.

          We need to draw a line between “essential auto technology” and the internet-connected convenience tech. I would love an open source project like GrapheneOS for autos. Or even just a tablet I can connect to the power and the stereo/mic for any sort of internet connected functionality (GPS, music, etc). Either way I want my open source OS to manage the modem firmware as I have no trust in these companies.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          Better yet, look up YouTube videos on how to remove the tracking bits. Sometimes it’s pretty easy, like just unplugging a connector or two (e.g. disabling OnStar is usually that easy). Do that research before buying, then remove it once you buy.

      • AlexWIWA@lemmy.mlEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        Any of the 3g infinitis. They probably collected info, but they no longer have any means to transmit it.

  • Technus@lemmy.zipEnglish
    26·
    3 months ago

    It’s almost insulting how cheap the data is going for.

    The insurance company buys your driving data for less than a dollar, then cranks your premiums potentially hundreds of dollars per year. Easy money for the insurance company, easy money for the data broker, easy money for the car company, and the little guy gets the shaft as usual.

    I think the rhetoric about data gathering needs to change. The average person doesn’t really care all that much about their privacy. “The government and all the tech companies are spying on me anyway,” they think. “If I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear,” they tell themselves.

    But if people actually understood just how much the prices they pay are driven by data warehousing, there’d be rioting in the streets.

    • Peffse@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      3 months ago

      One thing I like to point out to those people is that they are assuming it’s accurate data collecting. If for some reason the data broker thought you totaled a car, you can’t do squat about insurance agencies raising their rates because of it. You’d never know, you’d just see prices going up. Heck, everybody I know who has checked their credit has seen something that needed correcting. No way data brokers are 100% accurate.

  • thejml@lemm.eeEnglish
    14·
    3 months ago

    … and they’re passing a bill to revoke car companies access to data and make collecting and sharing data illegal and add steep fines if any are found to collect it in the first place, right? Right?

    Come on, these are the people at can do something about it, but they’re just going to be paid off and nothing will change.