Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum project, called modern cars a "privacy nightmare". In his X social network account (formerly Twitter), he shared an article that analyzes this problem.
Researchers from the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization, conducted a study of 25 different brands of cars to find out the extent to which user data is collected. The results showed that while modern cars have advanced computing capabilities, they also pose a significant privacy risk.
Reminder: modern cars are highly networked computers and are a privacy nightmare.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 26, 2024
Very under-explored sector for privacy improvements. Some "fancy ZK" but also some plain boring "collect and track less stuff please".https://t.co/dWOga6SMcI
According to Mozilla Foundation experts, each of the automakers studied collects excessive amounts of unnecessary information about both drivers and passengers. Surprisingly, this data is used not so much to improve the technical performance of the car, but to regulate the interaction between the driver and the car, the report says.
It's worth noting that cars have more insight into a person than their smartphone, #Smart home or any other electronic gadget, as experts emphasize. In addition, Mozilla Foundation emphasizes that 76% of automakers openly acknowledge the possibility of selling the data obtained to third-party companies.
Also, more than half of the companies (56%) recognize their willingness to share this information with the government or law enforcement agencies. Surprisingly, experts say they can do so without the need for a court order - an "informal request" is sufficient.
Researchers were also struck by the fact that 92% of car companies do not give owners access to the data collected. Of the 25 firms surveyed, only Dacia and Renault are exceptions. Moreover, representatives of these automakers were unable to give a satisfactory answer regarding the level of security of this data.
Among the brands that experts identified as particularly problematic are #Tesla, Nissan and Kia. In the case of the latter two, concerns extend to the collection of sensitive information such as a user's "sexual activity." In addition, six companies have admitted to potentially collecting the owner's "genetic material".
