Carmakers Deceived Customers: Warrantless Location Sharing With Police

pcmag.com

Posted by righttoprivacy in Privacy

QUOTE:

"A pair of US senators have discovered that eight automakers will give up users' location data to police without requiring a court-issued warrant.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) publicized the finding in a Tuesday letter that urges the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the car makers: BMW, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen.

The senators allege the companies "deceptively pledged that they would insist on warrants or other court orders before turning over location data" from customers to the police. In 2014, the auto industry pledged to uphold privacy principles, which included only handing over such sensitive location data to law enforcement when a warrant or court-issued order was provided.

However, an investigation from Wyden and Markey finds that only six car companies—Ford, GM, Honda, Stellantis, Tesla, and (to a lesser extent) Hyundai— require police to submit a warrant when requesting users' location data. Of the six, Tesla is the only one with a "policy of telling customers about legal demands, unless the company has received a judicial gag order."

The eight other automakers will turn over location data to government agencies "with a mere subpoena, which does not require a judge's review and approval," the senators write to the FTC."

Surprise anyone?

Full article: https://www.pcmag.com/news/senators-car-companies-are-giving-location-data-to-police-without-a-warrant

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Comments

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NotQball wrote

The police would pay to much to get that data from cell phone companies, insurance companies etc. I guess the car lobby did not pay the dues to them locusts. It appears that Tesla might be the new Tik Tok silent owner but I don't really know all the details. Blinken went to cosign that lower tit yaughurt... Maybe you are better informed on the subject.

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righttoprivacy OP wrote (edited )

Interesting. Will have to look into this rumor given the unprecedented banning of tiktok happening.

Everyone keeps asking him to buy everything since they like Twitter -- for now. I think it will become open to more restricted as user dependence increases. Or maybe it will slowly be filled with AI bots to shape user mindset (oops, too late!). ;)

Seems once in the US... Lobbyists get their claws into everything commercial.

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NotQball wrote

There is a RIGHT 2 REPAIR movement. Car companies are aware that customers would choose that Right over some crap data that cops might get. PC Magazine is crap and does not mention what data the cops got. Most car companies are also aware of the term "to much data" when they tried 2 switch 2 "just in time production" without warehouses. I know so much about the industry that I put this story into the DECEPTION category.

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