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Questioning The Privacy Policies Of Data-Collecting Cars (autoblog.com)
Remember when Vizio's televisions started collecting data about what shows people were watching? One transportation reporter is more worried about all the data being collected by cars. schwit1 quotes Autoblog:
Nowadays, auto manufacturers seem to be tripping over each other pointing out that they offer Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto. And more recent phenomenon are announcements -- from companies including Ford and Hyundai -- that they are offering Amazon Alexa capabilities. You talk. It listens... Here's the thing. While it may seem appealing to have all manner of connectivity in cars, there is the other side of that. Without getting all tinfoil hat about this, when your TV set is ratting you out, isn't it likely that your car will? It drives. And watches. And listens. And collects data...
That data could be shared with everyone from auto insurers and advertisers to law enforcement officials and divorce attorneys. But the real problem may be consumers assuming strong privacy protections that don't actually exist. The article argues that GM's privacy policy "is like most privacy policies, which boils down to: You use it (the device, software, etc.), you potentially give up a portion of your privacy."
That data could be shared with everyone from auto insurers and advertisers to law enforcement officials and divorce attorneys. But the real problem may be consumers assuming strong privacy protections that don't actually exist. The article argues that GM's privacy policy "is like most privacy policies, which boils down to: You use it (the device, software, etc.), you potentially give up a portion of your privacy."
"...Do you, Herbie the Love Bug, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth..."
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
So-called smart cars. NOT!
What is important is that I am using the Cisco AnyConnect client and it said it was checking posture assessment.
Why is Cisco worried about my posture? Will they refuse me service if I don't sit up straight?
pretension reigns.. cease fire stand down
From the folks who know how to forcibly collect data the best!
My daily drivers are going on 17 years old, and one has almost 200K miles. But they won't last forever and I will have to replace them.
In the mean time I carry a phone that knows everywhere I go. (At least I could turn it off when I'm not using it – if I was paranoid. And yes thanks, I know that just because I'm not paranoid it doesn't mean "they" aren't out to get me.)
Even if an automaker gets a new car purchaser to agree to an unconscionable contract of adhesion, what about someone who buys a used car and who was never even given a chance?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
At least one manufacturer will see the marketing value of ''the car that does not spy on you'' - support them with your wallet: buy their cars, the others will get the point. OK: I agree that 90% of people will not care, but 10% is still a good market base.
If something is right out in the open, how is it private?
Still driving my 22 year old Eclipse GSX with no onboard recording devices.
I drive WAY too much for that to be a realistic option for me. My current daily driver is a 2009 and I already have over 160,000 miles on it. If I were to keep it for 22 years at my current annual mileage I'd have over half a million miles on it at that point. It's a good vehicle but I have little confidence it will still be on the road after that much use. Mine doesn't transmit any data about my location either. I think it has an onboard black box but I'm not worried about that.
Very surprised people are going along with the 1984 snooping on everyone thing. It was supposed to be a cautionary tale.
Cautionary but complicated. I carry a smartphone because it adds significant value to my daily life. Yes it could in principle be used in a dystopian fashion but in reality it isn't. Like nuclear power or genetic engineering, the technology is neutral and whether it is a force for good or ill depends on how it is used. There are very positive benefits to tracking location and performance parameters of a vehicle. There also are some drawbacks. It's not all 1984 where everything has taken the worst possible outcome.
From the previous slashdot post your cars are already reporting back to the mothership.
link
The thing that scared me was combining that amount of data collection, with a Watson like AI doing data analysis. Businesses and Governments would kill for those kind of results.
One high tech car, because it is becoming impossible to avoid, and one "burner car" for travelling with more privacy. The burner car would be an antique, or close. eschewing all high tech gadgetry.
E Proelio Veritas.
Publicly traded company will always whatever is in their stockholders best interest (as they are required to do so by law) which forces businesses to behave like sociopathic entities. Since there are no repercussions for losing sensitive data related to your customers, it's only a benefit to collect and sell the information. Any publicly traded company will harvest as much data as they can to sell as long as the extent of their actions remains hidden (exposure is bad for business and thus they must be avoid it by law).
This is the dystopian present we live in. There is no need to deny it but there is a need to reform the system because this behavior has led to many harmful and extremely shortsighted decisions.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
At least one manufacturer will see the marketing value of ''the car that does not spy on you'
More likely one manufacturer will TRY that marketing angle and then quickly figure out that very few people actually give half a shit about their privacy and abandon the attempt. The siren call of all that cash will simply be too much for them to resist for long.
Yeah, everything can be used for good or evil including snooping, but capitalism and greed often shift that equation in the direction of evil.
If nobody bothers to put up a fight then yes. But the evil that corporations do can be overcome. One only has to look at the number of regulations we have to see evidence that we can limit corporations. Corporations can be muzzled if enough people bother to care.
Google even mentioned the fact in their early days (do no evil). Then they started full scale snooping.
"Do no evil" was marketing from day one. Anyone who didn't realize that was either naive or an idiot. Google is an advertising company and has been from jump street. Anyone who didn't realize that they would behave with the incentives relevant to an advertising company was an idiot.
In reality, privacy is going to become a very rare commodity
It never was as common as people believed it was. A lot of stuff we thought was private in the past really wasn't. It just wasn't convenient to get the data. Now we actually have to do something about it rather than relying on the hope that others are lazy to protect our privacy. It will be an ongoing fight to balance privacy with other interests.
I think cars since 2010 have had telematics software and hardware in them. This allows authorities to track the vehicle once they pull a Vin number.
Now how that is done.... do not know. I would think that they need a LTE connection. However with on-star and the likes its not hard to imagine your car has been spying on you since the 90s.
This is just gen2 of the concept.
I wonder if those guys with the kickstarter have discovered any commands to send over vehicle CANBUS that'll wipe the memory of any collected data? I'd pay for that. Insert a dongle daily that wipes everything.
Here we have a situation where people protest that the truth will be known. Do people want the right to lie in divorce court or to lie to insurance companies or to lie about who caused a wreck? It seems as if the American public fears its own stink. Have we reached the point at which America can not survive without lies being a standard norm of behavior? Also keep it in mind that truth works in all directions. If you own stock in an insurance company people that lie are stealing your money. It may be your wife that can't explain why she parks at Tom's house when she is supposed to be at work. You may well get child custody if you offer strong evidence of her adultery. The problem with wanting to live a covert life is that you give the same privilege to everyone else and at some point your kids figure out that you are full of lies and they get all messed up and turn to drugs. Maybe it is time to insist upon truth from all people.
I for one refuse to ever buy any car that can (and therefore does) connect to the manufacturer and send collected data back.
That includes all GM brand cars (Chevvy, Buick, Cadillac, GMC) because you literally can't buy any model from any of them without OnStar coming already built-in. Also all Teslas and most other electric vehicles phone home.
It has already been shown that in many (read:all) new cars there is already a black box that was surreptitiously installed by manufacturers and only came out because its contents were subpoenaed. At the time this black box recorded location, speed, brake/accelerator activity, seat belt usage, etc. The auto industry claimed that these were only used for warranty support and for troubleshooting but the information they are collecting is too comprehensive to make this excuse laughable. Doing this through wireless and using integrated software would merely be a continence of this.
Not worth the bits they're made of. You have absolutely no way of ever knowing where your data goes.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Data collected by a car can't be used without a prior individual court order to do so in this state.
Just saying.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Which is great, until the car manufacturers start whining about how "regulations" make it "impossible" for them to be "innovative and competitive".
Or the insurance industry starts whining about how "they just cannot do business" in a "state which just doesn't Get It", and how "premiums are higher than they should be, due only to onerous privacy restrictions".
Or the police or Three Letter Agencies start whining about how "terrorism is running wild" and "criminals are victimizing the innocent" and "they need the enforcement tools of the 21st century".
Hey, state protection is good, and good on WA. Just remember though that anything that can be done, can be undone. And this kind of law in particular, it seems to me, is vulnerable to multiple organizations launching coordinated attacks on it.