Car Privacy is Horrid

Modern cars are chock full of sensors and connected to the internet via built-in cellular modems. That’s a recipe for massive data collection. Last September, Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included team released a blockbuster report how much data our cars were gathering and it was absolutely staggering. According to the hard-to-find privacy policies, your car can collect extremely personal information including precise location, contact lists from your phone, call and message data, and – believe it or not – even “sexual activity”. Today, I’ll walk through this report and its implications with the head of Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included project, Jen Caltrider. Interview Notes Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/  Mozilla’s car report: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/  Mozilla’s report on AI chatbots: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/happy-valentines-day-romantic-ai-chatbots-dont-have-your-privacy-at-heart/  Donate to Mozilla Foundation: https://donate.mozilla.org/  Mozilla layoffs: https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/13/mozilla-downsizes-as-it-refocuses-on-firefox-and-ai-read-the-memo/  Sign the petition to stop car data gathering! https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/car-companies-stop-your-huge-data-collection-programs-en/  Bruce Schneier article in Slate: https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/ai-mass-spying-internet-surveillance.html  Further Info Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch  Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons  Send me your questions! https://fdsd.me/qna  Support our mission! https://fdsd.me/support  Subscribe to the newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter  Check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons: https://fdsd.me/book  Table of Contents Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show. 0:02:39: What were some top finding from your car privacy report? 0:05:14: Which cars did you review and how did you evaluate them? 0:09:44: How was I notified and how did I consent to my car’s privacy policy? 0:10:39: What are cars tracking? Are electric cars any worse than gas cars? 0:13:55: What third party data mining is going on in my car? 0:20:41: Is there a way to opt out of data sharing? 0:24:10: Is less data collected in Europe? 0:26:02: Where is all my data stored? Locally, in the cloud, or both? 0:28:52: Is the data at least secured? 0:29:48: Can dealerships access my data? What about law enforcement? 0:32:28: What about rental or fleet cars? What about passengers? 0:37:24: Do car dealers disclose this data collection to shoppers? 0:39:11: What are some of the security problems with this data collection? 0:45:55: How did car makers and legislators respond to your report? 0:48:36: Do modern privacy laws cover auto data? 0:50:48: So what can we do about this today? 0:54:30: What will Privacy Not Included tackle next? 0:58:40: Wrap-up