It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy
The Mozilla Foundation | Sept 6, 2024 | Jen Caltrider, Misha Rykov and Zoë MacDonald
… besides how you know Jen, Misha, and Zoë …
… all the trackers, cameras, microphones, and sensors capturing your every move. Ugh. Modern cars are a privacy nightmare.
Car makers have been bragging about their cars being “computers on wheels” for years to promote their advanced features. However, the conversation about what driving a computer means for its occupants’ privacy hasn’t really caught up. 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. Machines that, because of all those brag-worthy bells and whistles, have an unmatched power to watch, listen, and collect information about what you do and where you go in your car.
All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label — making cars the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed.
It knows my opinion of other drivers, at length…
My seat cushion knows what I’ve been eating by smell.
It sees me when I’m sleepin’,
It knows when I’m awake,
It knows if I’ve been bad or good,
So I’m being good for goodness sake.
It knows that I just can’t drive 55…
It knows I am not as familiar with the lyrics to most songs as I initially think I am.
My minivan loves me. It would never tell my secrets.
My truck says: “What happens in the bed stays in the bed.”
I drive by the local scrap yard once a week, my car understands.