It’s Official: Cars Are Terrible at Privacy and Security
www.mozillafoundation.org
All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label – making cars the worst category of products that we have ever reviewed

I am sure this article has been shared before, however I wanted to have a look at this topic.
The articles short summary is this:

All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label – making cars the worst category of products that we have ever reviewed

I am currently driving a 2014 Ford Fiesta which just has a radio with a CD player and Bluetooth. I do not need more than that in a car.

The reason I am looking at all is that that the Fiesta does not belong to me and the friend owning it will be moving out in a bit, so I kinda need another one.

There seems to be one brand that is not as bad as the other ones (but still bad): Renault; mozilla’s review…
Maybe I will have a look at their cars.

What do you guys think? Stick to older used cars and not use an EV or look at which of the manufacturers have the least bad privacy policy?

  • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    I’m confused here, if cars are not connected to the internet how else are they broadcasting the data? Or is it collected during maintenance and if so what do mechanics care about your sexual activity.

    Edit: Reading through the comments there are 3G/4G/LTE/5G bands in the cars? Who is paying for the cellular service then?

    I don’t drive nor care about cars so this isn’t my wheelhouse obviously.

    • IMALlama@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 day ago

      if cars are not connected to the internet how else are they broadcasting the data

      I can’t think of any cars that aren’t connected to the web these days. The connection is used for the built in android computer that’s in most dashboards. If it’s not android it’s likely some form of QNX. The connection is usually shared with some sort of connectivity module that’s used for things like emergency services. With connectivity comes the opportunity to harvest data.

      Who is paying for the cellular service then?

      Why limit ourselves to only one answer or even to the ‘data’ side of cellular service?

      You! Most companies offer some sort of data plan to enable an in-vehicle wifi hotspot and/or to enable the android computer in most of them to connect to the interwebs. You might be able to buy limited scope plans for things like “navigation data only.”

      You again! Even if you’re not paying explicitly for data you might subscribe to a “control some of your vehicle from your phone” thing or a safety package to do things like call EMS if you’re in an accident. Believe it or not, but some of this functionality is managed via SMS

      Both of the above have been getting bundled into MSRPs recently to ‘justify’ jacking up MSRPs and to try to get users hooked.

      Finally, the OEM. Nearly everyone delivers software updates over the air. Even though the OEM eats the data costs they’ll gladly pay if it reduces dealership visits.

      There’s been quite a bit of news, and a few lawsuits, regarding OEMs collecting and/or selling data. I’m all for privacy, but I still do things like carry a cellphone everywhere. Vehicles shouldn’t mine data on us. Neither should infrastructure (see the surge in cities buying license plate readers), phones, facial recognition, etc. Sometimes it seems like there’s too much focus on a single area when we should really be saying, “our devices, or even devices I don’t own, should not collect data on me without my explicit consent.”