FLEETDRIVE products on their level of privacy protection. According to them,“ cars are the worst product category we have ever reviewed for privacy.” While marketing their products’ smart features, car manufacturers use vague and broad terms to mask how much data they’ re actually stealing from you. Mozilla found six car companies using the terms“ demographic data” and“ sensor data” in an attempt to disclose to the customer about what they’ re collecting. Of course, these companies don’ t exactly explain what they mean, so you, the consumer, are ultimately oblivious to what they actually know about you. Did we mention Mozilla found out cars collect“ images” too? Yikes.
THE DEAL WITH DATA PRIVACY
So, what is data privacy? According to CloudFlare, it is“ the ability of a person to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent personal information about them is shared with or communicated to others.” This refers to all information about you— your name, where you live, what your occupation is, or even your phone number.
Many websites and apps require you to sign up before you use their services. In the process of registering, you end up giving them your personal information. Not only that, even the websites and services you don’ t register for are able to track or make use of your data to curate personalised ads. Your phone, though mostly silent when not in use, contributes to this as well. Search engine inquiries, who your friends are, and your current location— these are just a few of the many things companies and products keep tabs on.
THE PRIVACY NIGHTMARE
The biggest offender of cars breaching data privacy is Nissan. Nissan USA’ s privacy policy reveals that the company collects your“ religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information.” What for? Well, for“ business purposes.” Unfortunately, that’ s the limit of how specific they get.
And while they collect sensitive data about their customers, Nissan reserves the right to give your information away to third parties“ for targeted
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