Automakers Unwilling To Share Driver Data (Yet)

An anonymous reader writes: With Apple and Google both vying for a place in your car's dashboard, you might start wondering to what extent the data you generate while driving might be analyzed or shared with advertisers. The good news is that car manufacturers are not keen to give this data away — some have specifically said they won't let Google or Apple get their hands on it. The bad news is that they feel this way because they see your data as a new source of profit — they're just deciding how best to harvest it. One executive at Ford said, "We need to control access to that data. We need to protect our ability to create value." According to the article, "Auto companies hope to profit from in-vehicle data in a variety of ways, including the provision of travel planning services and auto repair and service information they hope will bring drivers to dealerships. They also expect to work with insurance companies, providing information that would allow insurers to base their rates on a driver's behavior behind the wheel."

Comments

Oh Spare Me Please.

[AltGrendel]

I really don't want any of this from them.
Just stop this "It's for your own good" crap.

Fuck everything about this.

[flacco]

> The bad news is that they feel this way because they see your data as a new source of profit — they're just deciding how best to harvest it.

It's really great how car co's just assume they are entitled to have this data.

I do not want this in my car, at all, in any form. No "opt out" or "we take your privacy seriously", nothing. I want it physically impossible for them to collect data.

Re:Insurance makes sense

[gstoddart]

The problems with this include that is data collected without our consent, which we can't opt out of, which creates massive privacy implications, and which law enforcement will happily demand.

Once stuff like this is collected, the inevitable scope creep ensues.

As a general rule, people like you who say "well, I don't mind if it's for insurance" have spent zero thought on how much potential this has for abuse.

It's not like we can choose to not own cars to avoid this. But if car makers expect to treat this data as "theirs" to be monetized, there needs to be legal safeguards on it.

Not this horseshit notion that if you don't want to be tracked you should live in a cave.

This week it's monetization by assholes, then it's insurance, then it's law enforcement, then it's your wife's divorce lawyer.

This is just turning us unto the ever expanding surveillance society. Only instead of being exclusively in the hands of the thought police and big brother, this is now in partnership with private industry to make money and constantly spy on us.

Fuck that. This is a terrible idea, and there needs to be mechanisms by which people say "I don't want that", and not simply some EULA which says "by continuing to use your $30K car you consent to us having access to all your data".

Bunch of greedy bastards. I bought the car. It's mine. I should be the one deciding what of my information it's giving to you.

This is just more of a bullshit trend where "ownership" means we get fucked over by our possessions so some asshole can maximize executive bonuses.

This has to stop.

This isn't some technical wonderland, this is just more of the dystopin future where law enforcement and corporate profits touch on every single aspect of our lives.