When many of us think about taking care of our cars, we usually envision the ability to manually replace whatever goes wrong, given enough knowledge and elbow grease. But when car companies promote their fleets as computers on wheels, it becomes obvious that our vehicles contain larger datasets of our personal information than we realize. This especially becomes an issue when carmakers do not adequately protect our privacy; in fact, they may be selling it to a third-party without our awareness.
In a recent article from Mozilla’s buyer’s guide titled “It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy,” the authors detail absolutely staggering findings. Every single one of the 25 car brands they reviewed earned a “*Privacy Not Included” warning label, which inspired the article’s disquieting title. Not only do major car manufacturers admit that they may be selling their customers’ personal information, they are purposively vague regarding to whom they may be selling it. This shroud of secrecy is almost as clandestine as their security standards, which might explain why carmakers are so prone to being hacked.
Of the 25 automakers surveyed, 19 have language within their notices claiming that they can sell your data. Half will hand that data over to the government or law enforcement officials when requested—not just when being served with a court order. And only two of the 25 offer buyers the option for their data to be deleted, and neither of those companies operate out of North America. For this reason, the state of California’s Privacy Protection agency recently opened an investigation into the incorporation of features like location sharing, web-based entertainment and smartphone integration in cars.
With Mozilla being unable to confirm that any of the 25 surveyed brands meet their Minimum Security Standards, it seems unlikely that a majority of these manufacturers encrypt every piece of the personal information stored in your car (and as Mozilla emphasizes, these are minimum standards). When it comes to driving cars, then, the best thing you can do is try to avoid using your car’s app as much as possible and to limit its permissions on your phone. But watch out: if you ask some car companies (such as Tesla) to stop collecting your vehicle data, it might result in your car breaking.
Privacy
How Data-Safe Is Your Car?
