Senators reportedly state that several major automakers have admitted to sharing sensitive location data without a warrant. The list includes Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, and Subaru.
The senators added that Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia admitted that they just need subpoenas, which do not need a judge's approval, before disclosing location data to government organizations.
The senators noted that Volkswagen's statement requires a warrant for more than seven-day location data.
Senators in the US are pressuring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take further action to protect consumers.
Through letters to every government, they have brought to light serious privacy abuses.
(Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
In her first letter to the FCC, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell urged the committee to offer a comprehensive understanding of and remedies for exploiting connected vehicle technologies.
Her concept stems from recorded cases of domestic abusers using networking equipment in their cars to follow and manipulate their victims.
She's hoping that her letter, along with other initiatives, will lead to a mechanism that allows survivors to quickly halt or delete an abuser's access to private car data.
Additionally, the technique would stop an offender from using a system similar to a service request to get access or data once more.
Two other Senators' conclusions about the privacy practices of over a dozen automakers support Congresswoman Dingell's requests.
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Automakers' Violation
They claim that by failing to obtain a warrant or court order before disclosing GPS location data, these automakers are betraying a voluntary commitment they made in 2014.
Only Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Honda, and Tesla—out of the 14 automakers who participated in the study—need a warrant for this information.
Only Tesla, one of those brands, will inform customers about such requests from the authorities. According to the FTC, government organizations currently need a warrant to search an American's phone, seek access to their private images stored on the cloud, and retrieve the contents of their emails. Location-related data is just as critical and needs to be well protected.
Automakers' Response
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the sole visible association representing the global auto industry, declared that automakers are dedicated to safeguarding private vehicle location data.
The statement goes on to say that this is a complicated matter. Only in specific, restricted situations—such as when the automaker receives a warrant or court order or when there is an immediate risk of significant bodily damage or death to an individual—is vehicle location information given to law enforcement.
The declaration contradicted Wyden's conclusions, which he claimed he got from automakers via the unidentified trade group. The reason why the Alliance for Automotive Innovation statement seemed to contradict the disclosures made by automakers to Wyden is unknown.
The association's senior vice president for policy, Hilary Cain, frequently cited the automakers' voluntary principles—dubbed "industry standards"—when elucidating the industry's commitment to privacy during a March session organized by the Future of Privacy Forum.
The lawmakers claim that while some automakers promptly delete location data, others keep it on file for up to ten years.
Mercedes-Benz informed the senators that the corporation does not systematically gather past location data from automobiles. According to the statement, it merely keeps track of a car's most recent parking location and removes it when the vehicle is relocated.
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