Episode 124 — Data Privacy & the Automobile: Your car is watching, recording, and sharing your data

Data Privacy Detective

The modern automobile – a marvel of technology and transportation. It collects enormous amounts of data about us. This information is used for continuous improvement in design and safety and for our convenience. But it also creates risks to personal privacy. Episode 124 provides a tour of what automakers, suppliers, and users can do to create fair controls over how the automobile monitors, records, and shares personal information.

Standard setting includes the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, in its Consumer Privacy Protection Principles. NIST (the National Institute for Standards and Technology) issued 2023 revisions to its Cyber-Security Framework. In the absence of national law or regulation about automotive privacy, these standards are a baseline for acceptable use of automotive generated personal data. Tune in to consider what automotive businesses and private individuals can do to safeguard personal privacy while allowing continuing technological and safety progress. Matt Schantz, an attorney with Frost Brown Todd’s Automotive Industry Team, with a focus on intellectual property and technology agreements, leads an exploration of how our car is watching, listening, recording, and sharing our data – and choices business and consumers have to protect personal privacy.

Time stamps:

01:10 — How do today's automobiles collect data about their drivers?

05:00 — How do automakers and suppliers address privacy concerns?

06:40 — What guidance does NIST have on balancing automaker interests with individual privacy concerns?

10:19 — Tips for automakers and suppliers about meeting privacy concerns and/or regulations?

13:57 — TIps for drivers about safeguarding their data