Carmakers Keep Data On Drivers' Locations From Navigation Systems 189
cold fjord writes "The Detroit News reports, 'A government report finds that major automakers are keeping information about where drivers have been — collected from onboard navigation systems — for varying lengths of time. Owners of those cars can't demand that the information be destroyed. And, says the U.S. senator requesting the investigation, that raises questions about driver privacy. The Government Accountability Office in a report released Monday found major automakers have differing policies about how much data they collect and how long they keep it. Automakers collect location data in order to provide drivers with real-time traffic information, to help find the nearest gas station or restaurant, and to provide emergency roadside assistance and stolen vehicle tracking. But, the report found, "If companies retained data, they did not allow consumers to request that their data be deleted, which is a recommended practice."'"
Re:hate the new slashdot (Score:4, Informative)
One can always just pull the OnStar antenna and call it done. This is a lot easier than doing a rip-job, and easily reversible when it comes time to sell the car.
Yes, it has already happened (Score:5, Informative)
So far, this hasn't seemed to have happened, but if it does become public, there will be a backlash, especially OnStar which has the ability to track and disable cars in realtime [1].
Ahem. Just a few links that spring to mind. You can easily find others.
TomTom sorry for selling driver data to police [ft.com]
“Government Motors” To Track Drivers With OnStar, Sell Data to Police [thenewamerican.com]
OnStar Tracks Your Car Even When You Cancel Service [wired.com]
Busted! Your car's black box is spying, may be used against you in court [computerworld.com]
Re:Bumper Sticker (Score:4, Informative)
Companies should not keep private information about individuals.
The government hates competition.
No, the Government prefers corporations to do their work for them.
Re:All across America (Score:5, Informative)
Uh what? The whole point behind a block heater is to reduce the initial startup cost for the car/truck. They guzzle heavily when under -6C(20f) until the intake manifold warms up, to lower the amount of time required to heat the cabin of the vehicle. And prevent damage to the engine itself, since the vast majority of vehicles don't pump oil before starting, increasing viscosity even a small amount reduces wear.
And the above has been known for decades. As a fun point, having too rich a mixture of antifreeze will corrode the aluminum, and eat the gaskets between various manifolds. Having it too weak, will lead to popped frost plugs(if you're lucky), and if you're unlucky broken heads, cracked blocks, or broken manifolds. I'll toss in one other thing, back when I was an apprentice in the 90's, a car came in that "wouldn't start" so said the customer. The antifreeze mixture had frozen(too old), and separated the intake manifold from the head. It had stripped all the bolts, warped the head, and broke the manifold. It was just shy of $4200 in repairs.
Re:All across America (Score:4, Informative)
Until your wife demands it for divorce proceedings which prove you were at your mistress when you should have been at work.
So somebody else thought of that. That's right, you can subpoena that information in a divorce.
Of course, you can also subpoena that information from your wife's car.