Privacy4Cars app. Any experience or comments about this app?

[macgyver60]

I was just reading about this app. Apparently car companies collect more info than I realized. Of course those EULA’s that none of us read give car companies the right to sell a lot of personal data to anyone they want. No surprise to most of us I am sure. This app deletes that data. Especially helpful when returning a rental car in which we may have used CarPlay.

My thoughts are that this creates some of the same issues that a VPN does. It simply transfers personal info from one entity to another. In other words are we deleting data from our car because we don’t trust Ford (Kia,GM etc) with it only to put that data potentially in the hands of some app developer.

I’m probably being a little more paranoid than usual after just binge watching Rabbit Hole Any thoughts?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...cts-data-on-you-how-to-delete-it/70220377007/

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[Mach1E]

I was just reading about this app. Apparently car companies collect more info than I realized. Of course those EULA’s that none of us read give car companies the right to sell a lot of personal data to anyone they want. No surprise to most of us I am sure. This app deletes that data. Especially helpful when returning a rental car in which we may have used CarPlay.

My thoughts are that this creates some of the same issues that a VPN does. It simply transfers personal info from one entity to another. In other words are we deleting data from our car because we don’t trust Ford (Kia,GM etc) with it only to put that data potentially in the hands of some app developer.

I’m probably being a little more paranoid than usual after just binge watching Rabbit Hole Any thoughts?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...cts-data-on-you-how-to-delete-it/70220377007/

All anyone seems to do with your “data” is send your advertising.

Do you prefer ads that target things you’re more likely to be interested in (based on your internet use and demographics), or would you prefer to be bombarded with ads from anything from baby diapers to Depends?

Data tracking and selling isn’t quite as nefarious as people make it out to be.

 

[Gullwingdmc]

Apparently car companies collect more info than I realized.

 

[vortix]

All anyone seems to do with your “data” is send your advertising.

Do you prefer ads that target things you’re more likely to be interested in (based on your internet use and demographics), or would you prefer to be bombarded with ads from anything from baby diapers to Depends?

Data tracking and selling isn’t quite as nefarious as people make it out to be.

That’s partially true. But keep in mind that if your data is for sale, it can be purchased or obtained by those with much worse intent than just advertising. It’s your data, you should have the option to block it from being shared or not.

 

[Mach1E]

That’s partially true. But keep in mind that if your data is for sale, it can be purchased or obtained by those with much worse intent than just advertising. It’s your data, you should have the option to block it from being shared or not.

Much worse intent such as?

I would be interested to hear even a single example anywhere in the world where something “bad” happened to someone because their “data” was sold by their car manufacturer.

Until then, I’ll look at products like these the same way I look at “alien abduction insurance.”

 

[A-A-Ron]

Until then, I’ll look at products like these the same way I look at “alien abduction insurance.”

Hey, I haven't been abducted, so it works for me

 

[macgyver60]

Much worse intent such as?

I would be interested to hear even a single example anywhere in the world where something “bad” happened to someone because their “data” was sold by their car manufacturer.

Until then, I’ll look at products like these the same way I look at “alien abduction insurance.”

I agree this is a bit of an unknown but keep in mind that once the data is out there it's too late to get it back if someone later figures out a way to use it in a way that has negative implications for the driver. At that point its too late to take any protective measures.

I am not too worried about Ford using my data in ways I wouldn't approve. My main thoughts were having lots of personal data about where I am and how I drive on a server somewhere that could be hacked. There may also be a risk of data sitting in data files of a rental car that someone else could access. Then there's the possibility of Ford selling our data to an insurance company which uses the data in negative ways to increase our car insurance rates because it decides that we stopped too suddenly for their tastes too many times.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. Its a crazy world we live in where so much is known about us by so many unknown entities. Lots of very harmful ID theft goes on every day in large part because of all this data available on the internet. Thieves are very creative and always a step ahead. Its not a bad idea to try and be proactive but I can't help wondering if this app does more to increase risk than reduce it.

 

[Mach1E]

I agree this is a bit of an unknown but keep in mind that once the data is out there it's too late to get it back if someone later figures out a way to use it in a way that has negative implications for the driver. At that point its too late to take any protective measures.

I am not too worried about Ford using my data in ways I wouldn't approve. My main thoughts were having lots of personal data about where I am and how I drive on a server somewhere that could be hacked. There may also be a risk of data sitting in data files of a rental car that someone else could access. Then there's the possibility of Ford selling our data to an insurance company which uses the data in negative ways to increase our car insurance rates because it decides that we stopped too suddenly for their tastes too many times.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. Its a crazy world we live in where so much is known about us by so many unknown entities. Lots of very harmful ID theft goes on every day in large part because of all this data available on the internet. Thieves are very creative and always a step ahead. Its not a bad idea to try and be proactive but I can't help wondering if this app does more to increase risk than reduce it.

I dunno, there are plenty of real threats out there that are preventable to worry about.

Probably better to focus on risk mitigation on those things rather than trying to prevent something that has never and may never happen.

The only data that anyone cares about selling is all public anyways.

If I were a celebrity or something, I might want something like this. But for us regular folk? No one cares enough to look.

You think that an insurance company has the time or manpower to look through the individual driving records of each driver? Let alone that they would PAY for the access to that data? Highly unlikely when all they need to do is access your tickets and crashes and claims, since that is all that matters to them.

 

[vortix]

I dunno, there are plenty of real threats out there that are preventable to worry about.

Probably better to focus on risk mitigation on those things rather than trying to prevent something that has never and may never happen.

The only data that anyone cares about selling is all public anyways.

If I were a celebrity or something, I might want something like this. But for us regular folk? No one cares enough to look.

You think that an insurance company has the time or manpower to look through the individual driving records of each driver? Let alone that they would PAY for the access to that data? Highly unlikely when all they need to do is access your tickets and crashes and claims, since that is all that matters to them.

Also keep in mind that if your data is shared with one company, it could be obtained via cybersecurity breach. This could include location data with modern vehicles, which might present a concern for some people (even if not you personally).

Some additional concerns:
https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/privacy-and-cybersecurity-issues-in-electric-vehicles/

My only thought is...why not give the consumer a choice of whether their data will be shared or not? And let the consumer decide whether they want the added benefits that come along with data sharing (i.e. targeted ads, other vehicle experience features, etc.) or whether they want to skip those benefits in order to maintain a better sense of data privacy.

This would fully support your opinion, as well as the opinions of others...which will differ from person to person.

 

[Jimrpa]

Much worse intent such as?

I would be interested to hear even a single example anywhere in the world where something “bad” happened to someone because their “data” was sold by their car manufacturer.

Until then, I’ll look at products like these the same way I look at “alien abduction insurance.”

Hey, the rider wasn’t THAT expensive ?

after all, remember what happened to kenny!

 

[phil]

You think that an insurance company has the time or manpower to look through the individual driving records of each driver? Let alone that they would PAY for the access to that data?

Time? Manpower? They use computers for that now.

You might be surprised at the data insurance companies already pay for, and use in underwriting. It's a lot.

 

[macgyver60]

I dunno, there are plenty of real threats out there that are preventable to worry about.

Probably better to focus on risk mitigation on those things rather than trying to prevent something that has never and may never happen.

The only data that anyone cares about selling is all public anyways.

If I were a celebrity or something, I might want something like this. But for us regular folk? No one cares enough to look.

You think that an insurance company has the time or manpower to look through the individual driving records of each driver? Let alone that they would PAY for the access to that data? Highly unlikely when all they need to do is access your tickets and crashes and claims, since that is all that matters to them.

Insurance companies are already doing this. My auto insurance is through State Farm. They keep pressuring us to install a device that monitors our driving “to get a discount”. For the moment they guarantee no increase in rates but there is no guarantee they won’t in the future and a friend who installed it said he got the least discount because the device was able to detect that he was using CarPlay. He said all he uses it for is to listen to Spotify and they knocked him down for that.

We refused the offer and I am sure many others have as well. I wouldn’t put it past them to pay someone else who got the data and didn’t have to ask permission. They are already paying for these devices they are putting in policyholders cars. And to be honest not getting a discount is really the same thing as getting penalized

 

[CompilerBreak]

Don't let your car collect unwanted data on you, just give it to our app instead and cut out the middle man...

 

[A-A-Ron]

Insurance companies are already doing this. My auto insurance is through State Farm. They keep pressuring us to install a device that monitors our driving “to get a discount”. For the moment they guarantee no increase in rates but there is no guarantee they won’t in the future and a friend who installed it said he got the least discount because the device was able to detect that he was using CarPlay. He said all he uses it for is to listen to Spotify and they knocked him down for that.

We refused the offer and I am sure many others have as well. I wouldn’t put it past them to pay someone else who got the data and didn’t have to ask permission. They are already paying for these devices they are putting in policyholders cars. And to be honest not getting a discount is really the same thing as getting penalized

From what I understand about these programs - there's a pretty close to zero chance of getting any discount in a Mach E. And if you aren't accelerating faster than their ridiculous limits allow at least occasionally, the MME is probably not the best car for your needs.

 

[Mach1E]

Time? Manpower? They use computers for that now.

You might be surprised at the data insurance companies already pay for, and use in underwriting. It's a lot.

I would be surprised…….. if they paid Ford for your individual driving data.

Almost positive that they don’t, and won’t.

Insurance carriers rate risk by groups. Only time you get rated individually is for tickets, claims and wrecks.

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