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New cars are computers on wheels. Don’t believe me? The average vehicle nowadays has over 1,400 microchips in it. Because your car is connected, it can also collect a lot of data about you. Your car is like your phone, computer or tablet now — always listening.
Here’s what you need to know and how to stop this privacy invasion.
What do they want to know?
A new online tool shows all the info your car has on you. It’s called the Vehicle Privacy Report and is made by a company called Privacy4Cars. All you have to do is enter your car’s VIN and the tool spits out all the privacy policies about the company that built your vehicle.
Here’s what you may find when you plug in your VIN:
- Identifiers that show who you are.
- Location data that shows where you are and where you went.
- Biometrics, which includes data collected by your car’s microphone and camera.
- Voice recordings collected by your voice assistant in the car — do you ask for directions or make calls via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto?
- Data synced from your devices connected to the car with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB, such as smartphones and tablets.
The tool also lists who your information is shared with, such as insurance companies, the government and data brokers.
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Look away, Kia drivers
We plugged in the VIN on one of my staff member’s cars, which happens to be a Kia and it gave a complete rundown.
While the car isn’t a hard drive on four wheels and doesn’t have telematics — that’s a method of monitoring vehicles with a GPS — it did say that Kia is known to collect locations, identifiers and user profiles. It also noted that the Korean carmaker shares and sells to its affiliates, service providers and government.
Want to try it out? Head to vehicleprivacyreport.com.
Want to delete tracking data from your car? There’s an app for that
Here’s some good news. Privacy4Cars has a free iOS and Android app that deletes your personal information from vehicles you drive or are connected to. This includes your phone book, call logs, text messages, navigation history, home address, garage door codes, passwords, biometrics, vehicle credentials and more.
The app includes visual step-by-step instructions and makes it easy for you to remove personal information. Use Privacy4Cars after every rental and rideshare and before selling, turning in or trading your vehicle.
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