A new Mozilla study revealed that drivers have no privacy in their own vehicles.
The team reviewed 25 vehicle brands and concluded that in terms of privacy, cars are the “worst” category of productsthat Mozilla has ever reviewed. “[E]very car brand we looked at collects more personal data than necessary and uses that information for a reason other than to operate your vehicle and manage their relationship with you,” the study showed according to a blog post detailing the results. “For context, 63% of the mental health apps (another product category that stinks at privacy) we reviewed this year received this ‘ding.’”
An appalling 84% of the brands researched, sold or shared customers data for marketing and research purposes. Even worse, 56% of the brands say they can share your private information with the government when asked. “While you are getting from A to B, you’re also funding your car’s thriving side-hustle in the data business in more ways than one,” Mozilla wrote of the results.Mozilla said the main concern with the use of personal data is that the data might not be adequately protected.“Our main concern is that we can’t tell whether any of the cars encrypt all of the personal information that sits on the car,” the study said.
The study concurs with concerns brought up earlier this year. In February, the House Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce held a hearing that discussed artificial intelligence and Autonomous vehicles. During the hearing, Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) pointed out that autonomous vehicles have been shown to be hotbeds for cybersecurity threats due to their potential to be hacked by bad actors (foreign and domestic).
At the time, MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider similarly commented on the issue, warning against the privacy dangers of autonomous vehicles even as tech companies insist that they are safe. “[T]he witnesses who testified before the committee are hiding the ball. They refused to focus on how Big Tech companies will be blocked from using our data against us.” He continued: “It doesn’t matter if our data is not sold to third parties if the manufacturers use that data to attack us.” Schneider pointed out how “Google, Facebook and Twitter had a long history of using our personal data against us.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand answers on the kind of data liberal Big Tech platforms like Google and Amazon will have access to through autonomous vehicle push.
