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Once Vehicles Are Connected To the Internet of Things, Who Guards Your Privacy?

Lucas123 (935744) writes Carmakers already remotely collect data from their vehicles, unbeknownst to most drivers, but once connected via in-car routers or mobile devices to the Internet, and to roadway infrastructure and other vehicles around them, that information would be accessible by the government or other undesired entities. Location data, which is routinely collected by GPS providers and makers of telematics systems, is among the most sensitive pieces of information that can be collected, according to Nate Cardozo, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Not having knowledge that a third party is collecting that data on us and with whom they are sharing that data with is extremely troubling," Cardozo said. in-vehicle diagnostics data could also be used by government agencies to track driver behavior. Nightmare scenarios could include traffic violations being issued without law enforcement officers on the scene or federal agencies having the ability to track your every move in a car. That there could be useful data in all that personally identifiable bits made me think of Peter Wayner's "Translucent Databases."

8 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. I have a phone in my pocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... all the time. It knows where I am. It knows how fast I'm going. It knows who I talk to. It listens. It sees.

    And it's connected constantly.

    1. Re:I have a phone in my pocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      > I have a phone in my pocket

      And like most people you are happy to trade your personal security in the future for convenience today.

      But it does not have to be that way. Your phone does not need to indiscriminately produce a "data exhaust." It was just designed that way by people who want to capture as much of your data as possible.

      Don't let your apathy and ignorance get in the way of the people working to make things better. One day you might decide that there work was actually useful to you after all.

    2. Re:I have a phone in my pocket by vortechs · · Score: 3, Insightful

      maybe for you but not for the rest of us. and there's no law to carry cell phones

      Technically, there's no law saying have to drive a car either...

  2. Just wait 'til the Insurance Companies get it! by X!0mbarg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The rates will likely skyrocket to near-Canadian rate levels, and there might be a change in Speeding Ticket-Issuing technologies that could (conceivably) issue live warnings and even Tickets based on telemetry and other live info...

    Imagine getting caught up in a construction or accident re-direct, and their being a batch of auto-tickets issued for using the wrong lane(s) or traveling on a closed section of road! People won't really be able to fight a live-issued ticked based on in-vehicle speed data after all because it's going to come form your own speedometer and correlated with satellite tracking for accuracy.

    Talk about a Revenue Stream! Who needs a Speed Trap, when your Vehicle will issue you a ticket directly.

    Government will simply mandate it, and it Will Be So.

    Mark my words...

  3. Not just cars ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is true of your thermostat, your fridge, and pretty much anything else which is a part of this "internet of things".

    Every aspect about what these devices does will be analyzed, used for marketing information, handed over to law enforcement, or your insurance company, or anybody who hacks into it.

    For some of us, this whole IoT is a privacy nightmare waiting to happen, and we have no interest whatsoever in it.

    Unfortunately, a lot of people like to see that as a sign that you're paranoid and getting alarmist about things which will never happen.

    And then, like the widespread surveillance being misused (which they swore would never happen), parallel construction (which is perjury in my books), or the scope creep we see all around us ... almost inevitably this comes true and people act surprised.

    Sorry, but I for one will not be enabling this crap. It just seems like technology for the sake of it, and by the time people realize that those among us who have been saying this will be a problem were right, it's too damned late.

    Unless there are laws governing how a company can use the information, and some controls over law enforcement to prevent them from getting this and misusing it ... the internet of things is a terrible idea, and will not make your life better. The sheer amount of information about every aspect of your life which will be in someone else's hands is staggering.

    In the end, I predict it will make our lives far worse, and usher in even more of this surveillance society we've been seeing.

    We can't trust them with the information they have now, let alone from another bunch of sources in your life.

    You really think the government won't insist on getting all this data without a warrant? And they won't claim you have no reasonable expectation of privacy and that they should be entitled to know where everybody is at all times? Or that corporations won't sell this for marketing purposes? Or to deny you service?

    Hell no. Now, pass the tin foil please.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. PHONES YOU IDIOTS by gurps_npc · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Uhm, phones give your GPS data now. Cars will not be a dramatic shift in potential privacy issues.

    All the data that they are afraid cars will give out are already given out by people's phones.

    So, basically exactly the same situation that we already have.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  5. why do you let your world be shaped by marketing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    things don't have their own internet...its the same one we use for everything else

    so please just say cars are connected to the internet

  6. In the future by pkinetics · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I can totally see people getting ratted out by their Internet of Things devices.

    Mother: Who ate the last piece of cake?

    Fridge: Gary ate the last piece of cake.

    Wife: Where was Gary last night?

    Car: Gary was at the strip club with Larry and Moe.

    Police Officer: How fast were you going?

    Gary:I don't know.

    Chevy: Gary was going 57 miles per hour. He was 7 miles over the limit.

    Police Officer: Have you had anything to drink?

    Gary: No officer.

    Chevy: Gary was tailgating with Larry and Moe. The cooler says they have consumed 3 cases of beer.