[EFF Article] The Impending Privacy Threat of Self-Driving Cars

Raisin8659@monyet.cc to Technology@lemmy.world – 130 points – The Impending Privacy Threat of Self-Driving Cars
eff.org

Summary:

  • Self-driving cars collect a massive amount of data, including visual and other information.
  • This data could be used to track people's movements, which could pose a threat to privacy.
  • There is a lot of uncertainty about how this data is stored, secured, and accessed.
  • Law enforcement agencies have already served warrants to self-driving car companies for footage.
  • It is important to have strong privacy laws that address the data collected by self-driving cars.
  • We need to know more about how much footage police request and how companies respond to these requests.
  • Regulators need to consider the civil liberties implications of self-driving car data collection.
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We don't have to wait for self-driving for this. It's been going on for a number of years now. Self driving tech just makes it worse.

I'm already avoiding buying new cars because of this issue for a while now. My newest car is from 2005, and I intend to keep it that way.

It sucks that all the electric cars are ruined by spying, but at least I'm happy with the e-bike I bought this spring.

If you use google maps and you get their monthly "look at all the places you went last month" emails, this is already happening...not sure if you can opt out of the tracking but that would be a good start...

I bet when you opt out, they just stop sending you notices but will still have the tracking that only they can see, then justifying it as necessary data to keep the apps working properly.

I do keep this monthly reminder that all my moves are tracked. I find it's better to be kept aware of this than to play it like an ostrich.

This said, in Europe at least, opting out of this service should force google to drop your data, and retain it only in aggregate forms that do not allow reidentifying you.

We need to have free open source software for the cars. Of course, the hardware, the car itself, should cost money, but it's important to have the software open source so it can be carefully examined.

In our country you can buy assembled vehicles. The downside is there's no safety codes being followed. Yet it's perfectly legal to register and approved by the government for road use.

Yeah, need some companies to compete by using FOSS. Probably not gonna happen by govt's regulations.

I try to ever forget that under the GDPR scope andanu other privacy legislations, CCPA included, location data (GPS obtained) = Personal Data. The only exception lies only when this data can be disaggregated from any other informations that could link to locate a subject, therefore it wouldn't be personal but simple data, or if it is fully anonymised. That also raises the obligation to obtain a valid consent and inform the data subject. Maybe it's better to stick to a non connected to the Internet car... Call me old schooled :S

Thanks for the discussion. The EFF article also raises the issue of privacy for people around the car that is collecting vast amounts of information, which EFF proposes that it should be regulated to ensure privacy.