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.

  • Evkob@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    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??

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Lots of bicycles are implementing spyware these days too. Obviously not “analog” bikes.

    • suenoromis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Crabhands@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      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.

          • HeartyBeast@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              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.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately it’s not that simple. Some cars will not function properly without a cellular connection. They’re designed that way.

        • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          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.

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            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.

      • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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        1 year ago

        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.

        • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          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✨.

          • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              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.

              • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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                1 year ago

                Just remove the fuse, cut a wire or go to a local shop and get the comms system disabled.

                You literally said “cut a wire” in your original response…

                • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 year ago

                  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.

    • Phossu@burggit.moe
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      1 year ago

      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.

  • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      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?”

        • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          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”?

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              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.

              • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                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:

                global car brands…are collecting your deeply personal data, like your genetic information and sexual activity.

                I don’t see why collecting data about your sexual activity or genetic information would benefit them.

                • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  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?

          • river@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I can tell this matters, but you’re being unnecessarily antagonistic about this to a total stranger.