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05-17-2024, 05:47 PM
This post was last modified 05-17-2024, 05:48 PM by Maxmars.
Edit Reason: spelling
Many new vehicles are "smarter" nowadays. They are "connected" to a 'home base' NOT of your choosing. And they monitor your driving stats, collecting the data in their systems. While there are certainly non-abusive, purely service enhancement purposes for this practice, it is being exploited another way... as a source of revenue. Through "third-party" (you know, entities you have NO 'agreement' with) they are "selling" or "brokering" it to be bought up by insurance companies, who use it to justify rate hikes... significant rate hikes.
For the money hoarders... data is money. For the "insurance" industry... it is also money. Profit, profit, everywhere...
From NYPost.com: Your car is secretly spying on you and driving your insurance rates through the roof: report
and
From ArsTechnica: Connected cars’ illegal data collection and use now on FTC’s “radar”
There are 'issues' here that transcend commerce... especially since it involves a foundational aspect of human rights; privacy.
Still.... using the "smart" features of driving apps embedded in your vehicle are subject to "user agreements" which often couch references to "third-party" access to it. Often characterized as benign, it shows that they have no compunctions about the idea that the data belongs to them, not the driver... thus they can use it... and 'sell' it.
The Federal Trade Commission's Office of Technology has issued a warning to automakers that sell connected cars. Companies that offer such products "do not have the free license to monetize people’s information beyond purposes needed to provide their requested product or service," it wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Just because executives and investors want recurring revenue streams, that does not "outweigh the need for meaningful privacy safeguards," the FTC wrote.
Unfortunately, in true "US commerce-style"....
The FTC is not taking specific action against any automaker at this point. Instead, the blog post is meant to be a warning to the industry. It says that "connected cars have been on the FTC's radar for years," although the agency appears to have done very little other than hold workshops in 2013 and 2018, as well as publishing guidance for consumers reminding them to wipe the data from their cars before selling them.
I have to wonder if you buy a car with the previous owners data not wiped... can it affect your insurance rating?
The FTC says that automakers and other businesses must protect users' data against illegal collection, use, and disclosure. It points to recent enforcement actions against companies in other sectors that have illegally collected or used geolocation data, surreptitiously disclosed sensitive user data, and illegally used sensitive data for automated decisions.
The FTC says the easiest way to comply is to not collect the data in the first place.
I hope they get this under control... I mean without just "caving" to the industry lobby.
For the money hoarders... data is money. For the "insurance" industry... it is also money. Profit, profit, everywhere...
From NYPost.com: Your car is secretly spying on you and driving your insurance rates through the roof: report
and
From ArsTechnica: Connected cars’ illegal data collection and use now on FTC’s “radar”
There are 'issues' here that transcend commerce... especially since it involves a foundational aspect of human rights; privacy.
Still.... using the "smart" features of driving apps embedded in your vehicle are subject to "user agreements" which often couch references to "third-party" access to it. Often characterized as benign, it shows that they have no compunctions about the idea that the data belongs to them, not the driver... thus they can use it... and 'sell' it.
The Federal Trade Commission's Office of Technology has issued a warning to automakers that sell connected cars. Companies that offer such products "do not have the free license to monetize people’s information beyond purposes needed to provide their requested product or service," it wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Just because executives and investors want recurring revenue streams, that does not "outweigh the need for meaningful privacy safeguards," the FTC wrote.
Unfortunately, in true "US commerce-style"....
The FTC is not taking specific action against any automaker at this point. Instead, the blog post is meant to be a warning to the industry. It says that "connected cars have been on the FTC's radar for years," although the agency appears to have done very little other than hold workshops in 2013 and 2018, as well as publishing guidance for consumers reminding them to wipe the data from their cars before selling them.
I have to wonder if you buy a car with the previous owners data not wiped... can it affect your insurance rating?
The FTC says that automakers and other businesses must protect users' data against illegal collection, use, and disclosure. It points to recent enforcement actions against companies in other sectors that have illegally collected or used geolocation data, surreptitiously disclosed sensitive user data, and illegally used sensitive data for automated decisions.
The FTC says the easiest way to comply is to not collect the data in the first place.
I hope they get this under control... I mean without just "caving" to the industry lobby.
