New Study Exposes Data Privacy Concerns over Modern Cars
Every of the 25 car brands reviewed for the study, including Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, and Tesla, collect more personal data than necessary, according to the report released by the California-based Mozilla Foundation.
While consumers are worried about data collection by apps and digital devices, "car brands quietly entered the data business by turning their vehicles into powerful data-gobbling machines," said the non-profit organization, best known for its Firefox web browser.
The study showed that 84 percent of the 25 reviewed car brands, all from the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea, said they can share users' personal data with service providers, data brokers, and other businesses, and 76 percent said they can sell the personal data.
In addition, 56 percent of the carmakers said they can share the information with the government or law enforcement upon request, even without a court order.
The cars can gather even more information about users from third party functions, like satellite radio Sirius XM or Google Maps, said the report.
"Car companies have so many more data-collecting opportunities than other products and apps we use - more than even smart devices in our homes or the cell phones we take wherever we go," said the researchers in the report.
The information that cars collect can include anything from the user's name, address, phone number, and email address to more intimate data like photos, calendar information, and even details on the driver's race, genetic information, and immigration status.
In the meantime, drivers have little or no control over the personal data their vehicles collect, according to the study.
Only two of the 25 car brands said that all drivers had the right to have their personal data deleted, but these two car brands are only available in Europe - which is protected by the robust General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law.
"In other words: car brands often do whatever they can legally get away with to your personal data," said the report.
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