Nineteen automakers selling in the North American market have signed a pact to safeguard the privacy and security of data generated by automobiles. Today’s cars equipped with GPS generate a pile of data about their drivers’ comings and goings; tomorrow’s assistive, autonomous, and connected ones will fill much more detailed dossiers. The signed accord was delivered last week to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has legal authority to force corporations to live up to the promises they make to consumers.
Auto industry officials say they want customers to be assured the data from their cars, whether streamed to the automaker or downloaded from the vehicle’s computer, won’t be sold to insurance or marketing companies, nor turned over to legal authorities without a court order. The agreement also commits automakers to take reasonable measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access.
The accord does have provisions for selling personal data to advertisers who want to use it, together with location information, to target motorists. Industry officials say this would be done only if customers agree ahead of time, but the prospect of ads bombarding drivers while they’re driving raises concersns with traffic safety advocates. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety spokesman Henry Jasny says “There is going to be a huge amount of metadata that companies would like to mine to send advertisements to you in your vehicle. We don’t want pop-up ads to become a distraction.”
The privacy agreement might have been put forth as a strategic move to try and stave off legislation that would require privacy protections, which the industry claims would be “too prescriptive”. But Electronic Privacy Information Center Executive Director Marc Rotenberg says legislation is exactly what’s needed to make sure automakers do right: “You just don’t want your car spying on you…that’s the practical consequence of a lot of the new technologies being built into cars”, he said.
The automakers who signed the accord are Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, VW, and Volvo.
