In an era when driving is becoming increasingly digital, the most well-known car companies in the world are a data “privacy nightmare,” collecting and selling personal information, a study released on Wednesday revealed.
In an examination of 25 car companies, the California-based Mozilla Foundation found that none of them entirely complied with its privacy rules. No other product category, including those manufacturing mental health apps, had ever received a worse rating.
According to Mozilla, best known for its privacy-conscious Firefox web browser, “modern cars are a privacy nightmare” at a time when “car makers have been bragging about their cars being ‘computers on wheels.”
“While we worried that our doorbells and watches that connect to the internet might be spying on us, car brands quietly entered the data business by turning their vehicles into powerful data-gobbling machines,” Mozilla said.
The analysis found that Tesla was the worst offender, with Nissan ranking second and being singled out for requesting some of the “creepiest categories” of data.
According to the report, a startling 84 percent of automobile manufacturers acknowledged disclosing customer information to service providers, data brokers, and other unidentified companies.
More than half of them, or more than 76%, claimed to share data with the government and law enforcement upon request and to sell their clients’ data.
In addition to tracking driving data, modern connected automobiles often monitor in-car entertainment and services provided by outside parties, such as satellite radio or navigation.
