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Ford Eyes Use of Customers' Personal Data To Boost Profits (threatpost.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the it's-only-a-matter-of-time dept.

According to industry-watchers, Ford is looking to profit off the data it can collect from its 100 million customers. In addition to the data collected from its infotainment systems and mobile apps, "Ford's CEO recently suggested that the data collected by the company's financial services arm also represents a valuable, low-overhead asset," reports Threatpost. From the report: "We have 100 million people in vehicles today that are sitting in Ford blue-oval vehicles," said Ford CEO Jim Hackett during a Freakonomics Radio podcast. "The issue in the vehicle, see, is: We already know and have data on our customers. By the way, we protect this securely; they trust us. We know what people make. How do we know that? It's because they borrow money from us. And when you ask somebody what they make, we know where they work, you know. We know if they're married. We know how long they've lived in their house because these are all on the credit applications. We've never ever been challenged on how we use that. And that's the leverage we got here with the data."

The comments, which were amplified by several auto-industry sources and the Detroit Free Press, sparked alarm in the Twitterverse. Against the backdrop of privacy disasters at Facebook and other stalwarts of the internet economy, the fear for many is that Ford sees selling access to consumers based on their lifestyle as a way forward. Is Ford considering selling consumer data as a revenue stream? Hackett stopped short of saying that -- and indeed, the data could instead simply be useful to the company internally, as a way to increase the value (and profit) of its other businesses.

9 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. CEOs are sociopaths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Every last one of them. That he would make such comments in the middle of the current privacy scandals shows an incredible lack of sensitivity and respect for their customers.

    1. Re: CEOs are sociopaths by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Connected cars haven't existed for "decades" in the sense they do now.

      They mostly still don't exist. Most cars, and even most new cars, do not have tracking built in. Specifically, Ford cars don't. There is "Ford Sync" that can track you, but only if you install the app, and plug your phone into the console while you are driving.

      Credit data? Sure.

      This is what he is referring to: Data collected while processing credit applications.

      Car companies have been financing cars for 30 years. For many years, GM made more money from loans than from manufacturing.

  2. Fuck Ford... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    hope they go bankrupt as they should have done in 2008. Not that this problem is unique to Ford -- any car with a 3g/4g modem built in is basically spying on its owner. At least there's a solution (for now) -- icepick through the antenna cable... This is why I love paying cash for efficient 90s cars. No spyware garbage built in.

    1. Re: Fuck Ford... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

      Not that Ford will have anything I want to buy now that their entire US lineup of cars is going away other than the Mustang. I have no love for muscle cars, SUVs, or pickups. Focus was decent while it has lasted, though.

    2. Re:Fuck Ford... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Why don't you just demand laws to stop this kind of thing? We have them in Europe. My Leaf had a 3G modem, and if I didn't agree to sharing data every time I started the car no data would be shared. If Nissan did share it I could complain to the data regulator, they could be fined a percentage of global turnover etc.

      Actually I can answer my own question. Corporations write your laws and own your politicians, which means they own you.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Re: Ha... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    It's probably not truly disabled unless you snip the antenna cable. Services that help you may be disabled, but it might still be able to phone home to the automaker...

  4. No IoT for me by DidgetMaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is precisely why I do buy IoT devices and do not subscribe to 'services' that send my personal information to somebody's 'cloud'. They will sell you out the first chance they get to make a buck at your expense. If you can control it with your phone, then you don't own the data it creates. It is sitting on somebody else's server and they can do whatever they want with it. Even if they promise (in writing no less) that they will never share it, they will. This goes for your video doorbell, your alarm system, your smart lighting system, your sprinkling system, etc., etc..

  5. I didn't think I could hate Ford more than I do by NikeHerc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a former owner of a piece of crap Ford Taurus, I didn't think I could hate Ford any more than I already do.

    I was wrong.

    --
    Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
  6. I read Ford's privacy policy... by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 2

    ...for their Vehicle Health Report Service and swore that I'd never use it. They don't/won't disclose the data they collect nor what they'll use it for (Summary: "We reserve the right to do anything we want with the data that gets uploaded"), and I swore that I'd never buy a Ford again. Reading TFA makes that even more of a promise.
    (Yes, other companies may be as bad, but they haven't pissed me off like Ford has. Orphaning the the MS MyFord Touch system WHILE THE CAR WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY was unforgivable.)