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DEEPLINKS BLOG By Matthew Guariglia December 1, 2023 A cityscape with surveillance U.S. Senator: What Do Our Cars Know? And Who Do They Share that Information With? Share It Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link A cityscape with surveillance U.S. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has sent a much-needed letter to car manufacturers asking them to clarify a surprisingly hard question to answer: what data cars collect? Who has the ability to access that data? Private companies can often be a black box of secrecy that obscure basic facts of the consumer electronics we use. This becomes a massive problem when the devices become more technologically sophisticated and capable of collecting audio, video, geolocation data, as well as biometric information. As the letter says, "As cars increasingly become high-tech computers on wheels, they produce vast amounts of data on drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and other motorists, creating the potential for severe privacy violations. This data could reveal sensitive personal information, including location history and driving behavior, and can help data brokers develop detailed data profiles on users." Not only does the letter articulate the privacy harms imposed by vehicles (and trust us, cars are some of the least privacy-oriented devices on the market), it also asks probing questions of companies regarding what data is collected, who has access, particulars about how and for how long data is stored, whether data is sold, and how consumers and the public can go about requesting the deletion of that data. Also essential are the questions concerning the relationship between car companies and law enforcement. We know, for instance, that self-driving car companies have also built relationships with police and have given footage, on a number of occasions, to law enforcement to aid in investigations. Likewise both Tesla employees and law enforcement had been given or gained access to footage from the electric vehicles. A push for public transparency by members of Congress is essential and a necessary first step toward some much needed regulation. Self-driving cars, cars with autonomous modes, or even just cars connected to the internet and equipped with cameras pose a vital threat to privacy, not just to drivers and passengers, but also to other motorists on the road and pedestrians who are forced to walk past these cars every day. We commend Senator Markey for this letter and hope that the companies respond quickly and honestly so we can have a better sense of what needs to change. You can read the letter here. Related Issues Street-Level Surveillance Share It Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link Join EFF Lists Discover more. Email updates on news, actions, events in your area, and more. Email Address [ ] Postal Code (optional) [ ] Anti-spam question: Enter the three-letter abbreviation for Electronic Frontier Foundation: [ ] Don't fill out this field (required) [ ] [Submit] Thanks, you're awesome! Please check your email for a confirmation link. Oops something is broken right now, please try again later. Related Updates A cityscape with surveillance Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia | November 9, 2023 It's Time to Oppose the New San Francisco Policing Ballot Measure San Francisco Mayor London Breed has filed a ballot initiative on surveillance and policing that, if approved, would greatly erode our privacy rights, endanger marginalized communities, and roll back the incredible progress the city has made in creating democratic oversight of police's use of surveillance technologies. The measure will... [og-policealpr-2] Deeplinks Blog by Dave Maass, Jennifer Pinsof | October 31, 2023 VICTORY! California Department of Justice Declares Out-of-State Sharing of License Plate Data Unlawful California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued a legal interpretation and guidance for law enforcement agencies around the state that confirms what privacy advocates have been saying for years: It is against the law for police to share data collected from license plate readers with out-of-state or federal agencies. [el-paso-1] Deeplinks Blog by Dave Maass, Veridiana Alimonti | October 3, 2023 The State of Chihuahua Is Building a 20-Story Tower in Ciudad Juarez to Surveil 13 Cities-and Texas Will Also Be Watching Chihuahua state officials and a notorious Mexican security contractor broke ground last summer on the Torre Centinela (Sentinel Tower), an ominous, 20-story high-rise in downtown Ciudad Juarez that will serve as the central node of a new AI-enhanced surveillance regime. With tentacles reaching into 13 Mexican cities and a data... A cityscape with surveillance Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia, Jason Kelley | October 2, 2023 Cities Should Act NOW to Ban Predictive Policing...and Stop Using ShotSpotter, Too Sound Thinking, the company behind ShotSpotter--an acoustic gunshot detection technology that is rife with problems--is reportedly buying Geolitica, the company behind PredPol, a predictive policing technology known to exacerbate inequalities by directing police to already massively surveilled communities. Sound Thinking acquired the other major predictive policing... Several spying drones with eyeballs Deeplinks Blog by Hannah Zhao | September 13, 2023 EFF to Michigan Court: Governments Shouldn't Be Allowed to Use a Drone to Spy on You Without a Warrant Should the government have to get a warrant before using a drone to spy on your home and backyard? We think so, and in an amicus brief filed last Friday in Long Lake Township v. Maxon, we urged the Michigan Supreme Court to find that warrantless drone surveillance of a... A cityscape with surveillance Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia | August 4, 2023 The Impending Privacy Threat of Self-Driving Cars Within a few years, fully self-driving cars have gone from science fiction to a very common reality for people in San Francisco with other places in the U.S. also testing the new technology. With innovations often come unintended consequences--one of which is the massive collection of data required for... The shadow of a police officer looms in front of a Ring device on a closed door. Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia | June 13, 2023 The FTC Forces Ring to Take User Privacy Seriously Amazon's surveillance doorbell company Ring has reached a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which will require the company to pay $5.8 million over its inability to keep private footage and audio collected from users' homes. This action stems from a collection of privacy violations that occurred... The angular outline of three faces as a computer might see them, colored like a rainbow Deeplinks Blog by Karen Gullo | June 7, 2023 Victory! New Jersey Court Rules Police Must Give Defendant the Facial Recognition Algorithms Used to Identify Him In a victory for transparency in police use of facial recognition, a New Jersey appellate court today ruled that state prosecutors--who charged a man for armed robbery after the technology showed he was a "possible match" for the suspect--must turn over to the defendant detailed information about the face scanning... [eff-pr-og] Press Release | May 25, 2023 Civil Liberties Groups Demand California Police Stop Sharing Drivers' Location Data With Police In Anti-Abortion States SAN FRANCISCO--Seventy-one* California police agencies in 22 counties must immediately stop sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with law enforcement agencies in other states because it violates California law and could enable prosecution of abortion seekers and providers elsewhere, three civil liberties groups demanded Thursday in letters to those... surveillance cameras spying on protestors Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia | May 23, 2023 SFPD Obtained Live Access to Business Camera Network in Anticipation of Tyre Nichols Protest New documents EFF received through public records requests have revealed that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) received live access to the hundreds of surveillance cameras that comprise the Union Square Business Improvement District's (USBID) camera network in anticipation of potential protests following the police killing of Tyre Nichols in... Discover more. Email updates on news, actions, events in your area, and more. Email Address [ ] Postal Code (optional) [ ] Anti-spam question: Enter the three-letter abbreviation for Electronic Frontier Foundation: [ ] Don't fill out this field (required) [ ] [Submit] Thanks, you're awesome! Please check your email for a confirmation link. Oops something is broken right now, please try again later. Share It Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link Related Issues Street-Level Surveillance Back to top EFF Home Follow EFF: * x * facebook * instagram * youtube * flicker * linkedin * mastodon * tiktok Check out our 4-star rating on Charity Navigator. 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