Axios - Our cars seem like a safe haven — a rare place for privacy between the frenzied home and the open-plan office. But cars are now computers on wheels, Axios' Felix Salmon writes. So they have "an unmatched power to watch, listen, and collect information about what you do and where you go," according to a stunning report from the Mozilla Foundation. That information can be sold to data brokers and shared with law enforcement.
The Mozilla Foundation, an open-source project dating back 25 years, studied 25 car brands for the report, "It's Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy."
- 56% will share data with law enforcement in response to an informal request.
- 84% share or sell personal data.
- 100% earned the foundation's "*Privacy Not Included" warning label.
Case in point: The Nissan privacy notice says the company can share "sensitive personal information, including driver's license number, national or state identification number, citizenship status, immigration status, race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information.
2 comments:
Big Brother is really watching now!
Semper Paratus
Holy Smoke Batman! Since when does a car need a “privacy policy”? And… what kind of a ‘privacy policy’ allows a company to share so much information - sounds more like an ‘Anti-Privacy’ Policy. Can the car purchaser “opt-out”?
OK, a car company might acquire Some information if they float the car loan themselves… stuff like the owner’s driver’s license number, precise geolocation (from GPS), and maybe citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin. But not all that other stuff especially ‘religious or philosophical belief, sexual orientation, sexual activity, health diagnosis data and genetic information’, unless the Salesperson is really, Really Nosy and the subject of marriage and children are discussed.
I knew there had to be a reason I liked my car. I am told that it might have as many as a half-dozen ‘chips’ in it to control and monitor systems. And while I do need a key to get into the car and start the engine, I do not have a large Key Fob, and I can take transmission out of Park and into Drive without putting my foot on the brake! Minor reasons for bragging, but we all need something don’t we. And, while this may sound a negative point, I don’t have Airbags in the steering wheel or passenger side - I like the ‘looks’ of my steering wheel better than newer cars.
My seatbelts work just fine thank you, half the windows go up-and-down upon prompting (one goes down even without prompting), and while lacking a working radio in recent years, the car is capable of traveling at a comfortable speed as well as the best modern vehicles.
I do worry about mileage though, as some modern automobiles can travel many more miles on a gallon of gasoline. I’m keeping my eye on an electric car for my next purchase. A used one, maybe ten years from now. Heh, Heh, Heh… the car company will still have all that data from the previous owner!
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