[RahulNagaraj]

According to a media report, a federal judge dismissed an appeal to bring back a class-action lawsuit against four carmakers for allegedly violating Washington state's privacy law. As per reports, the carmakers allegedly used their vehicle's onboard infotainment system to record text messages and call logs of the customer.



As per reports, the judge ruled that this practice doesn't meet the threshold of illegal privacy violation. The judge stated that interception and recording of mobile phone activity did not meet the Washington Privacy Act's standards. The judge went on to mention that the plaintiff must prove that "his or her business, person or reputation" has been threatened.

As per a Mozilla researcher, car companies can collect data points which include the customer's social security number, religion, marital status, genetic information, disability status, immigration status & race. Further, these data points are allowed to be sold to marketers.

The Mozilla research team even went on to state, "Cars are the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy."

Source: MalwareBytes

Link to Team-BHP news

[darthvader001]

Don't know based on what the lawsuit was even filed. The OEM Infotainment systems do not persist call logs or messages. And they do not upload them to cloud or anywhere.

The Infotainment system shows them for user convenience and when user turns the car off then they're gone. Moreover, user has an option to reject the contacts, call logs or messages sync request. Such a waste of federal Court's time with this lawsuit.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by darthvader001

The OEM Infotainment systems do not persist call logs or messages. And they do not upload them to cloud or anywhere.

Life was so simple like this before the era of connected cars. Cars with present tech are similar to a smartphone on wheels with user paying the manufacturer to enable all the cloud features.If the OEM decides, they can easily snoop on data to bring even more targeted ads or even sell it.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by darthvader001

Don't know based on what the lawsuit was even filed. The OEM Infotainment systems do not persist call logs or messages. And they do not upload them to cloud or anywhere.

The Infotainment system shows them for user convenience and when user turns the car off then they're gone. Moreover, user has an option to reject the contacts, call logs or messages sync request. Such a waste of federal Court's time with this lawsuit.

Quoting from the article:
" A 2022 report from The Markup found that automakers are not only collecting data about your car but also sending it to vehicle data hubs to process that information."

"In September, the Mozilla Foundation published a report that said modern cars “are a privacy nightmare,” noting that several big-name car brands, including Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, and Tesla, didn’t meet the organization’s minimum privacy standards. Until something is done to regulate the vehicle data industry, companies may continue to collect everything from vehicle speed and the music you’re playing to your location."

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/9/2...l-judge-ruling

[vzvish91]

I just purchased a new car from Nexa/Maruti here in India,
and I am curious as to how my purchase details got leaked to the 'RSA Card for 15years' scammer!

[darthvader001]

Cars with present tech are similar to a smartphone on wheels with user paying the manufacturer to enable all the cloud features.If the OEM decides, they can easily snoop on data to bring even more targeted ads or even sell it.

Yes, they can use the data from the car but not the data from your mobile. Meaning, they can determine your driving pattern/behavior, usage, POIs (in case you use Infotainment Navigation) etc.

You're right in a way that this is similar to smartphone targeting ads based on your usage. Vehicles that have Telematics (4G or 5G) connection, can do this.

However, OEMs do not upload contacts, call history or text messages. I've been working with several OEM Infotainment systems and for sure know this much.