If you are driving around in a newer car, there’s a good chance that the manufacturer is tracking you. If you have a Nissan or Kia in your garage, it’s nearly a certainty. Those models reportedly like to keep track of your sex life.
Tracking your sex partners
Nissan and Kia both admit they’re tracking the “sexual activity” and “sex lives” of their drivers. They make a bundle selling that information “to third-party advertisers.” If you want to know what your spouse has been up to, just look at the ads that pop up on their phone.
It was the Mozilla Foundation who broke the news. They’re the ones who make the Firefox web browser. Some of their engineers ran “privacy checks on 25 car brands” and were amazed at what they discovered.
Connected cars are a “privacy nightmare,” Mozilla Foundation says https://t.co/N0TnDsJSeQ
— Ars Technica (@arstechnica) September 6, 2023
It turns out that “most car companies can comb through a variety of sources to glean personal information about drivers.” There is one way they’re tracking you that’s really sneaky.
As the foundation notes, a big chunk of the data they pull becomes available when the driver and passengers “pair their smartphones with a vehicle’s connected services.” Advertisers have been tracking us for years but this is extreme.
According to Mozilla, “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.”
A lot of ambiguity
Once collected, the car maker is free to “sell it to or share it with vendors, insurance companies and others.” In their terms of service, Nissan clearly informs customers they collect “personal data” about their “sexual activity.”
Kevin Zawacki with Mozilla points out that infestations of tracking bugs aren’t good. “There’s a lot of ambiguity around how car companies collect these data points, and that is the problem.”
“It’s nearly impossible for consumers to really know how all their data is collected.” When he gave Nissan a jingle they didn’t bother calling back. Kia was quick to admit heck yeah we do it.
A new study from the Mozilla Foundation found that all 25 of the car brands it reviewed had glaring privacy concerns, even compared to the makers of sex toys and mental health apps. https://t.co/6i09xpmrXW
— The Verge (@verge) September 6, 2023
“Kia, the Korean automaker, acknowledges that it intercepts information about people’s ‘sex lives.’” After looking at the tracking efforts of 25 car brands, the privacy policy Nissan makes you sign off on scares them the most.
The contract Nissan hits you with “is probably the most mind boggling creepy, scary, sad, messed up privacy policy we have ever read,” Mozilla engineers report. “Here’s why: They come right out and say they can collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes.”
The official Nissan web page confirms that they’re tracking everything under the sun. “Sensitive personal information, including driver’s license number, national or state identification number, citizenship status, immigration status, race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information.” Your car apparently knows who your kids are even if your spouse doesn’t.