Highlights
- According to Mozilla research, popular global brands — including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru — can collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and where you drive.
- data is being gathered by sensors, microphones, cameras, and the phones and devices drivers connect to their cars, as well as by car apps, company websites, dealerships, and vehicle telematics.
- sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic data — but doesn’t specify how.
- They say they can share and sell consumers’ “preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes” to data brokers, law enforcement, and other third parties.
- these apps are also an avenue for collecting even more personal data, like location and biometric information.
- Many car brands engage in “privacy washing.”
- several have signed on to the automotive Consumer Privacy Protection Principles. But these principles are nonbinding and created by the automakers themselves.
- Audi and Tesla feature policies that are confusing, lengthy, and vague.