Automakers Sold Driver Data for Pennies, Senators Say
Senators Wyden and Markey urged the FTC to investigate automakers like G.M., Honda, and Hyundai for selling driver data without consent, highlighting concerns over privacy and deceptive practices.
Read original article
Senators Ron Wyden and Edward Markey have urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate how automakers, including General Motors (G.M.), Honda, and Hyundai, handle driver data. Their concerns stem from revelations that these companies collect and sell data on driver behavior, such as braking and acceleration patterns, often without drivers' knowledge. The data is sold to insurance companies to assess risk, with payments to automakers being surprisingly low; for instance, Honda received about 26 cents per car over four years. The senators criticized the practice, emphasizing that automakers should not sell consumer data without consent, especially when they charge high prices for vehicles.
Hyundai reportedly enrolled all internet-connected cars in data sharing, while G.M. and Honda required customers to opt in, a process Wyden described as "deceptive." Following media scrutiny, the sharing of driving behavior data ceased, and Verisk, the analytics company involved, shut down its data exchange. G.M. continues to share anonymized location data without seeking customer consent, with the only opt-out option being to disable the car's internet connection. The FTC has received multiple requests from Congress to investigate this issue, and while it has solicited consumer reports, it has not confirmed any ongoing investigations.
Related
Chinese self-driving cars have traveled 1.8M miles on U.S. roads
Chinese self-driving cars, like WeRide, Apollo, and Pony.ai, have driven 1.8 million miles in California since 2017. Concerns arise over data privacy and national security risks due to potential Chinese government access.
New technology and old tactics have made buying a car a death march of deception
The article exposes car dealerships' deceptive tactics, illustrated by Mario Flores' experience at CardinaleWay Mazda. Jase Patrick's intervention reveals industry practices, FTC's CARS rule, and NADA's opposition, emphasizing consumer protection efforts.
FTC Issues Orders to Eight Companies Seeking Information on Surveillance Pricing
The Federal Trade Commission orders eight companies to provide details on surveillance pricing using consumer data. Concerns raised about transparency and consumer protection in personalized pricing practices. Investigation targets firms like Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase.
FTC launches probe into 'surveillance pricing'
The FTC investigates "surveillance pricing," where AI adjusts prices based on customer data. Eight companies, including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase, face scrutiny over personalized pricing practices. Concerns about privacy risks are raised.
FTC Launches Probe into 'Surveillance Pricing'
The FTC investigates "surveillance pricing," where AI adjusts prices based on customer data. Eight companies, including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase, face inquiries. Concerns about privacy risks are raised. Companies like Mastercard and Revionics cooperate.
13 comments> said that the company had gotten the precise location of about 10 million G.M. cars up to every one to three seconds, but that the data did not include identifying details about the driver.
The word "Anonymously" means exactly nothing here. If one's exact location and movements are collected, wouldn't that include a lot of time and datapoints where the car is spending time at work and home locations?
Seems incredibly trivial at that point to deanonymize usage.
Then we can all analyze what they are collecting and can improve the visibility this issue gets. We really need better privacy laws in the US but laws can't move as fast as the tech sector does.
What company do I need to goto to buy this data?
Maybe it's overly simplistic and definitely unrealistic but, there it is.
You should not have any expectations of privacy today.
I don't really care where Ms. Wilkins next door takes her cats during the day, but if I were looking to buy a small business I might like to know which grooming service is drawing people from further away.
The counter-example is the world where safe drivers much more heavily subsidize extremely bad drivers. If I have no accidents on my record in 10 years, and have every observable behavior that indicates low risk, why should I pay substantial amounts of money every year because the government does not want insurers to have the data to tell I'm not a high-risk driver?
For real security, I’d like to pull the modem fuse, but i know neither which fuse to pull, nor if other systems might stop working.
It wasn't GM that did this. GM is an abstract entity composed of people.
Who specifically did this? We need to name and shame them.
This is only correct course of action in these situations.
So who specifically did this?
Related
Chinese self-driving cars have traveled 1.8M miles on U.S. roads
Chinese self-driving cars, like WeRide, Apollo, and Pony.ai, have driven 1.8 million miles in California since 2017. Concerns arise over data privacy and national security risks due to potential Chinese government access.
New technology and old tactics have made buying a car a death march of deception
The article exposes car dealerships' deceptive tactics, illustrated by Mario Flores' experience at CardinaleWay Mazda. Jase Patrick's intervention reveals industry practices, FTC's CARS rule, and NADA's opposition, emphasizing consumer protection efforts.
FTC Issues Orders to Eight Companies Seeking Information on Surveillance Pricing
The Federal Trade Commission orders eight companies to provide details on surveillance pricing using consumer data. Concerns raised about transparency and consumer protection in personalized pricing practices. Investigation targets firms like Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase.
FTC launches probe into 'surveillance pricing'
The FTC investigates "surveillance pricing," where AI adjusts prices based on customer data. Eight companies, including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase, face scrutiny over personalized pricing practices. Concerns about privacy risks are raised.
FTC Launches Probe into 'Surveillance Pricing'
The FTC investigates "surveillance pricing," where AI adjusts prices based on customer data. Eight companies, including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase, face inquiries. Concerns about privacy risks are raised. Companies like Mastercard and Revionics cooperate.