New Mozilla research has revealed that popular global car brands — like Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, Kia, Audi, Jeep, Honda, Volkswagen, and more — are collecting your deeply personal data, like your genetic information and sexual activity.
Nowadays, our cars are anything but a private space — they are full blown data collection nightmares on wheels.
New Mozilla research has revealed that popular global car brands — like Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, Kia, Audi, Jeep, Honda, Volkswagen, and more — are collecting your deeply personal data, like your genetic information and sexual activity. This invasive harvesting of information is collected via a web of sensors, microphones, cameras and the phones, apps, and connected services you use in your vehicle.
Car companies are brazenly collecting deeply personal information about people the moment they get into a car, often without explicit consent to do so. And that’s why the Mozilla community is now coming together to force car companies to respect our right to privacy. Add your name to ask car companies to stop collecting, sharing and selling our very personal information.
Find out more about our research on cars in the official launch blog post.
are collecting your deeply personal data, like your genetic information and sexual activity
Most of these policies are just putting in there as a sort of “catch-all” in case they collect it incidentally. I don’t see anything to indicate that they’re actively collecting this information.
Not a great take. “I’m probably not going to take all this money that’s sitting on the table. I could if I wanted to, I just don’t know if I really want to. Maybe. Will I?”
Do all of your “the facts” start with “probably”, “possibly”, “maybe”, or “under the best circumstances when all people involved place morality over their own personal and collective best interests, despite explicitly stating that they can and will do otherwise”?
You’re right. You said “I don’t see”, which might actually be true. It’s much more likely that you are wearing a blindfold than it is for major corporations to not be gathering as much data as possible at every opportunity.
Direct advertising and predictive analytics, same for literally every other minute piece of data that’s being collected on you. What makes you think sex or genes are off the table?
I wouldn’t say best form of transport because it depends what you’re transporting, how far you’re going and when do you need to be there, if you’re commuting to work or cycling for pleasure.
If it really was the best form of transport, I would have a bike, but because of what my job demands it is literally impossible or insane to do.
That being said, I do miss my old bike (it got stolen 😔) and tinkering with it, super worth the money I bought it for.
Im a cyclist who would love to not have to own a car but its just impossible between the suburbs, winter climate, and shitty, dirty public transport in my city. It also takes 10x longer to get anywhere. Plus anyone I know who bikes to work stinks.
Possibly. But wire cutters exist. Installing custom firmware for a car seems unnecessarily dangerous. Just remove the fuse, cut a wire or go to a local shop and get the comms system disabled.
Which would mean that, again, every time you enter a tunnel your car goes up in flames? I don’t know what you guys wanna tell me here but what you’re saying is bullshit.
It’s not bullshit, you just don’t know what you’re talking about. It won’t burst into flames but some features may not work, it may not charge at public stations, or it may just not move at all.
Not a viable solution since this will likely result in your entire infotainment system or other features being unusable. Not having the radio in your car work or not having safety features work would suck.
Oh no tapes tablet to car. Anyways, why would you entire infotainment system not work? You would just have no internet connection. Radio doesn’t work, yes, however most sane humans stream music anyways which is possible via bluetooth or, in case the comms module would also disable bluetooth, cable. Your choice, private sex life or ✨features✨.
Because that’s how they wire the cars. It’s like when you block shit with pihole and it breaks basic functionality. At least with pihole you can fine tune which domains you block. When you cut a wire, you power down the entire thing.
Guess what happens when you connect your phone to your car via bluetooth? Data collection! Most of the data collection happens from phones bro. You’re literally better off leaving the car alone and simply NEVER connecting your phone, unless it’s with an aux cable.
You don’t have to lecture me about privacy vs. Features. I fully get it. I value privacy very much. All I’m saying is that it will likely fuck up car features that you want if you randomly start cutting cables.
Most of the data collection does not happen from my phone bRoO. I use Graphene and if I don’t give my foss music app access to the internet, the app can collect as much data as it wants. Besides, what do I care if someone knows what music I listen to if in comparison the car manufacturer, who I likely gave my personal information to first hand, knows things far more private. I don’t have sex in my car, but if I did I would much rather have them know that I listen to “I’m a barbie girl” on repeat. And I doubt that cutting off connection will brick your car. If that was the case, my car would brick almost every time I enter a tunnel. The car does not check for connections like an effing website. If the comms were to be completely disabled or one would remove a fuse, sure. Your car might refuse to start, throw an error what have you. But if you simply remove the antenna, all bueno. Wanna know why they don’t refuse service without a connection? Because people would regularly die which makes this behaviour illegal :). And I do have to lecture you, as you seem to have a lot to learn and I don’t see a reason why anybody should put their pride first. I mean don’t even know anybody on here.
Oh and I did not say to randomly cut cables. I said to cut antennas. Do not under any circumstance cut a cable. It might be the windshield wipers or it might be a sensor for abs. You are absolutely correct that this is the worst idea one could have if they value their life. Well I mean no life means no privacy concerns.
Well, never downvoted my own comment before. Other points still stand. And yes, just to make sure, to anyone reading, do not just randomly start cutting wires.
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Most of these policies are just putting in there as a sort of “catch-all” in case they collect it incidentally. I don’t see anything to indicate that they’re actively collecting this information.
Not a great take. “I’m probably not going to take all this money that’s sitting on the table. I could if I wanted to, I just don’t know if I really want to. Maybe. Will I?”
That’s not my “take”, that’s just the facts of the situation.
Do all of your “the facts” start with “probably”, “possibly”, “maybe”, or “under the best circumstances when all people involved place morality over their own personal and collective best interests, despite explicitly stating that they can and will do otherwise”?
I can tell this matters, but you’re being unnecessarily antagonistic about this to a total stranger.
You are trying to take way more from what I said than exactly what I said. It’s not a puzzle. I don’t need you to extrapolate my intentions.
You’re right. You said “I don’t see”, which might actually be true. It’s much more likely that you are wearing a blindfold than it is for major corporations to not be gathering as much data as possible at every opportunity.
I did not say they are not collecting anything. Mozilla, on the other hand, puts this forth as a fact, as far as I can tell, without any evidence:
I don’t see why collecting data about your sexual activity or genetic information would benefit them.
Direct advertising and predictive analytics, same for literally every other minute piece of data that’s being collected on you. What makes you think sex or genes are off the table?
Dr. Toyota: How 'bout no! ;)
These posts look like they are making fun of Mozilla at first glance, Like: “Privacy not included” -Mozilla
Another reason bicycles are the best form of transport 😎
You mean I get to exercise, see my city from close up, reduce my environmental impact and protect my privacy??
I wouldn’t say best form of transport because it depends what you’re transporting, how far you’re going and when do you need to be there, if you’re commuting to work or cycling for pleasure.
If it really was the best form of transport, I would have a bike, but because of what my job demands it is literally impossible or insane to do.
That being said, I do miss my old bike (it got stolen 😔) and tinkering with it, super worth the money I bought it for.
WHO’S GOING TO CARRY THE BOATS?
Im a cyclist who would love to not have to own a car but its just impossible between the suburbs, winter climate, and shitty, dirty public transport in my city. It also takes 10x longer to get anywhere. Plus anyone I know who bikes to work stinks.
I don’t know that seat is probably absorbing data from your buttctack
*for now
You mean like Van Moof? They collect a shit ton of data.
Lots of bicycles are implementing spyware these days too. Obviously not “analog” bikes.
Ebikes are not bicycle but stealth mopeds
they’re called e-peds sometimes.
All together now…
👏 right
👏 to
👏 privacy
Is there such a thing as open source vehicle system software?
I haven’t heard of any - and if there were I bet you the car companies would do everything they can to prevent you from installing it.
Possibly. But wire cutters exist. Installing custom firmware for a car seems unnecessarily dangerous. Just remove the fuse, cut a wire or go to a local shop and get the comms system disabled.
Unfortunately it’s not that simple. Some cars will not function properly without a cellular connection. They’re designed that way.
Which would mean that, again, every time you enter a tunnel your car goes up in flames? I don’t know what you guys wanna tell me here but what you’re saying is bullshit.
It’s not bullshit, you just don’t know what you’re talking about. It won’t burst into flames but some features may not work, it may not charge at public stations, or it may just not move at all.
Then there’s a lot of the US that they’re not going to function properly in.
How is the location relevant?
Because some areas have poor to no cell reception
Yes that’s what I said
Cars don’t cease to function when driven in areas with little to no cell reception…
Not a viable solution since this will likely result in your entire infotainment system or other features being unusable. Not having the radio in your car work or not having safety features work would suck.
Oh no tapes tablet to car. Anyways, why would you entire infotainment system not work? You would just have no internet connection. Radio doesn’t work, yes, however most sane humans stream music anyways which is possible via bluetooth or, in case the comms module would also disable bluetooth, cable. Your choice, private sex life or ✨features✨.
Because that’s how they wire the cars. It’s like when you block shit with pihole and it breaks basic functionality. At least with pihole you can fine tune which domains you block. When you cut a wire, you power down the entire thing.
Guess what happens when you connect your phone to your car via bluetooth? Data collection! Most of the data collection happens from phones bro. You’re literally better off leaving the car alone and simply NEVER connecting your phone, unless it’s with an aux cable.
You don’t have to lecture me about privacy vs. Features. I fully get it. I value privacy very much. All I’m saying is that it will likely fuck up car features that you want if you randomly start cutting cables.
Most of the data collection does not happen from my phone bRoO. I use Graphene and if I don’t give my foss music app access to the internet, the app can collect as much data as it wants. Besides, what do I care if someone knows what music I listen to if in comparison the car manufacturer, who I likely gave my personal information to first hand, knows things far more private. I don’t have sex in my car, but if I did I would much rather have them know that I listen to “I’m a barbie girl” on repeat. And I doubt that cutting off connection will brick your car. If that was the case, my car would brick almost every time I enter a tunnel. The car does not check for connections like an effing website. If the comms were to be completely disabled or one would remove a fuse, sure. Your car might refuse to start, throw an error what have you. But if you simply remove the antenna, all bueno. Wanna know why they don’t refuse service without a connection? Because people would regularly die which makes this behaviour illegal :). And I do have to lecture you, as you seem to have a lot to learn and I don’t see a reason why anybody should put their pride first. I mean don’t even know anybody on here.
Oh and I did not say to randomly cut cables. I said to cut antennas. Do not under any circumstance cut a cable. It might be the windshield wipers or it might be a sensor for abs. You are absolutely correct that this is the worst idea one could have if they value their life. Well I mean no life means no privacy concerns.
You literally said “cut a wire” in your original response…
Well, never downvoted my own comment before. Other points still stand. And yes, just to make sure, to anyone reading, do not just randomly start cutting wires.
Easier said than done when the car has an eSIM embedded who-knows-where
Which doesnt matter if the sim has no power.
How are you going to find the power supply if you don’t know where it is? It’s doubtful it will be on its own dedicated fuse supply.
If you can’t read your car’s repair manual, pay a mechanic to do it for you. I doubt they will say no. Almost every manufacturer has a rapair manual.