Public Service Announcement

[GrahamPlatt]

Anyone with a “modern” car may be interested

how-figure-out-what-your-car-knows-about-you-and-opt-out-sharing-when-you-can

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/h ... en-you-can

[ukmtk]

I'm not sure that this can happen in a GDPR protected country.
I'm fairly certain that the user has to "opt in" to data sharing.

[DrFfybes]

I'm not sure that this can happen in a GDPR protected country.
I'm fairly certain that the user has to "opt in" to data sharing.

The implication in the article is that activating certain features can opt you in unwittingly...

But others, like Honda, tuck information about sharing with a data broker (that then shares with insurance companies) inside a privacy policy after you enable its “Driver Feedback” feature.

But as the article specifically mentions California as an exception to many states due to data laws, then I agree that most would be protected over here under GDPR unless you permit access.

Of course whether the manufacturers accidentally fail to adhere to GDPR is another matter.

Paul

[swill453]

On a related note, I was driving a hired car last week that had the feature where it could read speed limit signs at the side of the road, and display the current limit on the dashboard.

It sometimes got it wrong, either by mistakenly reading a sign on a slip road rather than the main carriageway, or by missing one completely.

It got me wondering that there must be a disclaimer somewhere that the manufacturer isn't responsible if you rely on the display and get a speeding ticket. But what's the mechanism for the driver supposedly being aware of it?

Is it in the small print when you buy the car? In that case there surely must be an ongoing responsibility to pass that on if you sell it or let someone else drive it.

Scott.

[88V8]

I'm not sure that this can happen in a GDPR protected country.
I'm fairly certain that the user has to "opt in" to data sharing.

The implication in the article is that activating certain features can opt you in unwittingly...

As I commented here this can be an issue.

You'll need to read all the bumph that came with your car to see what data it's collecting and what it might be doing with it.

V8

[bungeejumper]

It got me wondering that there must be a disclaimer somewhere that the manufacturer isn't responsible if you rely on the display and get a speeding ticket. But what's the mechanism for the driver supposedly being aware of it?

Is it in the small print when you buy the car? In that case there surely must be an ongoing responsibility to pass that on if you sell it or let someone else drive it.

My default assumption has always been that a driver's speed is the sole responsibility of the driver, who is supposed to be awake and concentrating on what he's doing. Complaining that my speedo must have been on the blink, or that my satnav had told me something wrong, is unlikely to cut much ice with the magistrates. I might as well try to explain myself to the schoolchild who I've just injured because I didn't see the 20 limit sign.

So far, so simple, but I suppose that technology will eventually cut into my autonomy. If my car has programmed itself to follow the car in front at a distance of 11 metres, and if it then brakes and accelerates accordingly, then I might have half a case to plead in court?

It sometimes got it wrong, either by mistakenly reading a [speed limit] sign on a slip road rather than the main carriageway, or by missing one completely.

Ah yes, I remember those sorts of slip road ambiguities in France, where a road sign tilted at 5 degrees toward the left sometimes means "not you, somebody else" and a sign tilted at 5 degrees toward the right means "not you, and not him either". Unless of course it means "you, but somebody hit the signpost last week"

BJ