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Your Car Is Tracking You Just as Much as Your Smartphone Is—and Your Data Is at Risk
As the U.S. enters a new era of lawmaking, connected cars could become the new front of legal battles.
Most modern cars know their locations better than their owners do. As suites of connected-car apps become mainstream for both emergency functionality (such as General Motors' OnStar) or for owner conveniences such as remote start or parking guidance, new vehicles are overflowing with data needed to support always-on connectivity.
While most owner concerns (and popular attention) have been fixed on unallowed hacks into such systems by bad actors, there are still massive troves of automatically generated data open to anyone with the knowledge to access it, and even the "proper" use of this data can be a risk to consumers who seek privacy. Your home, your work, every trip you've taken no matter how private: it all can be seen by companies, countries, and individuals you've never given permission to follow your travels, and completely legally.
Struggling to think of a need for privacy besides what's already been extensively reported and debated? One recent example: As certain states attempt to make previously legal medical care (such as abortion, contraception, and basic trans-related medication and care) illegal to access, the modern connected car and its troves of data have the potential to become a government’s unintentional best friend and a driver's worst enemy as prosecution intensifies. Even if you're not immediately affected by your car tracking your habits, state law has been changing increasingly rapidly—families in Texas found their access to trans care restricted within a week of the governor's directive to eliminate it—and you may find yourself criminalized a week from now unexpectedly over some other arbitrary decision.
The good news is there's already proposed legislation to combat the current freewheeling fate of our privacy. The bad news is we don't know how long that legislation will take to pass, if it does at all.
GPS, Wifi, and a Treasure Trove Onboard
To understand how driving a car could incriminate someone, it’s worth examining just what kind of data the car itself collects and transmits.
In 2021, 90 percent of cars sold in the United States—and around 130 million total cars sold worldwide—contained some form of embedded connectivity. This built-in connectivity can take many forms (built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, infotainment systems that connect to cellular networks, and even Bluetooth systems) but all of them share a few things in common: They collect (and transmit) massive amounts of data, they are usually truly embedded in the physical car (and comprise some core functionality of it), and owners rarely have control of where it ends up. This trove of data is known as telematics, and it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry with wide-reaching implications for consumers.
An earlier study from 2017, undertaken by a student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, pulled similar location data from a variety of late-model vehicles’ infotainment systems that logged exact coordinates even when the GPS was not engaged. In certain versions of Ford’s Sync infotainment system installed in mid-2010s-era Fords, the researcher found that “vehicle and system generated events also generated GPS coordinates which can further be used to prove the vehicle user’s exact location at specific times (for e.g. when the vehicle shifts gear and vehicle doors are opened/closed, GPS coordinates are generated).”
An example demonstration log in the study, pulled from a 2013 Ford F-150, shows GPS coordinates being stored when opening or closing a car door. With this frequency and precision, it’s easy to retrace exactly where that truck has been.
Rest at the Link or https://tunisbayclub.com/index.php?...-you-just-as-much-as-your-smartphone-is.1311/
As the U.S. enters a new era of lawmaking, connected cars could become the new front of legal battles.
Most modern cars know their locations better than their owners do. As suites of connected-car apps become mainstream for both emergency functionality (such as General Motors' OnStar) or for owner conveniences such as remote start or parking guidance, new vehicles are overflowing with data needed to support always-on connectivity.
While most owner concerns (and popular attention) have been fixed on unallowed hacks into such systems by bad actors, there are still massive troves of automatically generated data open to anyone with the knowledge to access it, and even the "proper" use of this data can be a risk to consumers who seek privacy. Your home, your work, every trip you've taken no matter how private: it all can be seen by companies, countries, and individuals you've never given permission to follow your travels, and completely legally.
Struggling to think of a need for privacy besides what's already been extensively reported and debated? One recent example: As certain states attempt to make previously legal medical care (such as abortion, contraception, and basic trans-related medication and care) illegal to access, the modern connected car and its troves of data have the potential to become a government’s unintentional best friend and a driver's worst enemy as prosecution intensifies. Even if you're not immediately affected by your car tracking your habits, state law has been changing increasingly rapidly—families in Texas found their access to trans care restricted within a week of the governor's directive to eliminate it—and you may find yourself criminalized a week from now unexpectedly over some other arbitrary decision.
The good news is there's already proposed legislation to combat the current freewheeling fate of our privacy. The bad news is we don't know how long that legislation will take to pass, if it does at all.
GPS, Wifi, and a Treasure Trove Onboard
To understand how driving a car could incriminate someone, it’s worth examining just what kind of data the car itself collects and transmits.
In 2021, 90 percent of cars sold in the United States—and around 130 million total cars sold worldwide—contained some form of embedded connectivity. This built-in connectivity can take many forms (built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, infotainment systems that connect to cellular networks, and even Bluetooth systems) but all of them share a few things in common: They collect (and transmit) massive amounts of data, they are usually truly embedded in the physical car (and comprise some core functionality of it), and owners rarely have control of where it ends up. This trove of data is known as telematics, and it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry with wide-reaching implications for consumers.
An earlier study from 2017, undertaken by a student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, pulled similar location data from a variety of late-model vehicles’ infotainment systems that logged exact coordinates even when the GPS was not engaged. In certain versions of Ford’s Sync infotainment system installed in mid-2010s-era Fords, the researcher found that “vehicle and system generated events also generated GPS coordinates which can further be used to prove the vehicle user’s exact location at specific times (for e.g. when the vehicle shifts gear and vehicle doors are opened/closed, GPS coordinates are generated).”
An example demonstration log in the study, pulled from a 2013 Ford F-150, shows GPS coordinates being stored when opening or closing a car door. With this frequency and precision, it’s easy to retrace exactly where that truck has been.
Rest at the Link or https://tunisbayclub.com/index.php?...-you-just-as-much-as-your-smartphone-is.1311/
