Mozilla: Here's Why Your Connected Car's Privacy Sucks

pcmag.com:

Buying a new car means your privacy might as well be left up on blocks, according to a study released Wednesday by the Mozilla Foundation.

“Modern cars are a privacy nightmare,” researchers Jen Caltrider, Misha Rykov, and Zoë MacDonald write (emphasis in the original) in their introduction to that report, published under the equally scathing headline "It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy."

The report, based on what the authors say was “over 600 hours researching the car brands’ privacy practices,” concludes that the 25 carmakers profiled might as well have been asleep at the wheel for the last 10 years of data breaches: They collect too much data from the sensors stuffed into their increasingly connected vehicles, share or sell too much of that, and grant drivers too little control over this collection and sharing.

Tesla fared worst of them all in Mozilla’s evaluation, with demerits in all five categories (data use, data control, track record, security, and AI), notwithstanding the upfront statement in Tesla’s privacy policy that it “never sells or rents your data to third-party companies.” 

The researchers instead objected to the volume of data that Tesla vehicles collect, the history of it being misused (such as April’s report that employees shared video from Tesla car cameras), language that suggests Tesla won’t insist on a court order before handing over data to law-enforcement investigators, and what they regarded as opaque and untrustworthy “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” systems.    

Sixteen brands from eight companies—Ford and its Lincoln brand; Honda and its Acura subsidiary; Hyundai and Kia; GM’s Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC; Mercedes-Benz; Nissan;