As you drive to a new restaurant, your car’s satellite navigation system tracks your location and guides you to your destination. The onboard camera constantly tracks your face and eye movements. Sensors help and record when another car swerves and you have to hit the brakes. When I take off my seatbelt to take off my sunglasses while waiting at a traffic light, the car notices this.
Modern cars are computers on wheels and are increasingly connected, enabling innovative new features that make driving safer and more convenient. But these systems also collect large amounts of data about our driving habits and other personal information, raising data privacy concerns.
Here’s what you need to know about how your car is monitoring you and how to minimize it.
How cars collect data
According to the Mozilla Foundation, it’s difficult to know exactly how much data modern cars collect about you. Privacy practices analyzed The group declared cars the worst product category the group had ever considered for privacy.
Data points include all normal interactions with the car, such as turning the steering wheel and unlocking the doors, but also data from connected in-vehicle services such as satellite radio, GPS navigation systems, connected devices, telematics systems, and data from sensors and cameras.
In-vehicle telematics systems are approximately ten years agothe automotive data collection practice began about five years ago.
The question is not just what data is collected, but who it is given to: insurance companies, marketing companies, shadowy data brokers, etc. The issue surfaced earlier this year. general motors He was prohibited from disclosing data collected from drivers to consumer reporting agencies for five years.
The Federal Trade Commission accused GM of not obtaining consent before sharing data that included all instances of drivers speeding or driving late at night. It was ultimately given to insurance companies and used to set premiums.
Please be careful
Andrea Amico, founder of car privacy company Privacy4Cars, said the first thing drivers should do is be aware of what data their cars are collecting.
In an ideal world, drivers would look through the instruction manuals and documentation that came with their cars and ask dealers questions about what is being collected.
But Amico said it’s not always practical to do this, manufacturers aren’t always able to find it easily, and dealership staff aren’t always the most informed.
Privacy4Cars offers free automotive privacy labeling services at the following locations: vehicleprivacyreport.com This will give you a summary of what your car may be tracking.
Owners enter their vehicle’s vehicle identification number and are shown the automaker’s data privacy practices, including whether their vehicle collects location data and whether it is provided to insurance companies, data brokers, or law enforcement.
Fine-tune settings
Data collection and tracking begins as soon as a new car is driven out of the dealership lot, and drivers automatically consent when a warning menu appears on the dashboard touchscreen.
Experts say some of the data collection is built into the system and that consent can be withdrawn by returning to the menu.
As Mozilla’s Laura Hendry Parsons puts it, “Settings give you the power to choose.” “Think about it at a granular level and check your settings if possible.”
For example, Toyota says on its website that drivers can: decline Something called “Master Data Consent” through Toyota’s app. Ford says owners can choose to stop sharing vehicle data with the company through their dashboard. setting menu or ford pass App.
BMW says Privacy settings Adjustments can be made through the infotainment system and can be adjusted “within a range” of allowing all services, including analytical data, or none at all.
You can opt out
…
U.S. drivers can ask automakers to restrict how their data is handled.
Consumer Reports says that under state privacy laws, some automakers allow owners across the U.S. to submit requests to limit the use, opt out of sharing or delete their personal data. Other car companies limit requests to people in states with applicable privacy laws, the publication said.
Requests can be made through an online form or the automaker’s mobile app.
You can also use Privacy4Cars, which offers a free online service to streamline the process. It can direct car owners to car manufacturers’ request portals and submit claims on behalf of owners in the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
…but there are also trade-offs
Experts warn that turning off data collection usually comes with tradeoffs.
For example, most people switch to satellite navigation systems over paper maps because “they value the convenience of getting from point A to point B so easily,” says Hendry Parsons.
According to Consumer Reports, turning off location tracking can stop features like roadside assistance and disable smartphone app features like remote door locks.
BMW advises that if owners choose not to share data at all, “the vehicle will behave like a smartphone in airplane mode and will no longer send data to BMW’s backend.”
when selling a car
When it’s time to sell your car or trade in for a new model, it’s more than just handing over the keys and signing the papers.
If you have a new car, experts say you should always perform a factory reset to erase all data, and this includes removing your smartphone connection.
Also, don’t forget to notify the manufacturer about the change in ownership.
Amico said this is important because if you’re trading in a car and the dealership allows customers to test drive the car, you don’t want your insurance company to associate the car with your profile.
“Now your record may be affected by someone else’s driving, someone who has no connection to you.”
____
Do you have a technical topic that you think should be covered? If you have any suggestions for future versions of One Tech Tip, please contact us at (email protected).
