Your ‘networked computer on wheels’ has a privacy problem – and you may not be in the driver’s seat when it comes to your data
The CES 2021 conference heralds the natural progression of car-spying apps built directly into the car and tied directly to insurance companies. Originally slated to assist drivers in an emergency, the systems are baked into the car platform telemetry itself and know everything about how you drive. How are your premiums calculated? Black box. What happens with your information? Black box, too. What happens when things go wrong? You get the idea.
This creeping blight oozing all over the last vestiges of our privacy in the interest of some thinly-perceived benefit was something tech was supposed to liberate us from – provide new degrees of freedom from. But there is this feeling that the walls of surveillance are closing in on our ability to do what we want, how we want, with things we own.
Only, we own less and less. We rent the things we “buy” from companies, and only borrow what is specified in take-it-or-leave-it licenses heavily favoring the vendor. No? Try opting out of tying into the cloud for basic functionality in the latest e-thing you bought. This will be really hard in the cars of the future.
RELATED READING: Connected cars: How to improve their connection to cybersecurity
If privacy pundits bark vociferously, there may be a tiny checkbox allowing you to opt out, but it will be buried in fine print, and couched in obtuse terms, like “opt out of personalized experiences” or some such phrase. This is not privacy by default – it’s ..
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