Cars & Consumer Data: On Unlawful Collection & Use

"Some say the car a person drives can say a lot about them. As cars get “connected,” this turns out to be truer than many people might have realized. While connectivity can let drivers do things like play their favorite internet radio stations or unlock their car with an app, connected cars can also collect a lot of data about people. This data could be sensitive—such as biometric information or location—and its collection, use, and disclosure can threaten consumers’ privacy and financial welfare.

Connected cars have been on the FTC’s radar for years. The FTC highlighted concerns related to connected cars as part of an “Internet of Things” workshop held in 2013, followed by a 2015 report. In 2018, the FTC hosted a connected cars workshop highlighting issues ranging from unexpected secondary uses of data to security risks. The agency has also published guidance to consumers reminding them to wipe the data on their cars before selling them—much as anyone would when trying to resell a computer or smart phone.

Over the years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the vast amount of data that could be collected from cars, such as biometric, telematic, geolocation, video, and other personal information. News reports have also suggested that data from connected cars could be used to stalk people or affect their insurance rates. Many have noted that when any company collects a large amount of sensitive data, it can pose national security issues if that data is shared with foreign actors.."
Cars and Consumer Data 

Online Consumer Data Collection

"Large amounts of consumer data can be collected, processed, and analyzed by operators of websites and mobile applications (apps) and third parties, which are entities other than the website or app primary operator (e.g., data brokers). Operators collect data for multiple purposes, including providing services, selling user data to third parties, or sending targeted ads directed to specific individuals.

The value of consumer data often comes from identifying users and linking their data from various sources to a common identifier. Operators can identify individuals using their personally identifiable information (PII)—such as name, address, or date of birth—and other identifiers, such as those associated with a particular device. Some federal laws prevent entities from collecting or sharing specific types of PII or identifiers in certain circumstances. However, in recent decades, the ubiquity of non-PII (data not directly linked to an individual’s identity, including anonymized or aggregated data) and the emergence of new data collection and tracking tools have made it easier to identify individuals.

Consumer data can be collected using various data collection and tracking tools, such as cookies, pixels, device and browser fingerprinting, application programming interfaces (APIs), and software development kits (SDKs). These tools can continuously collect different types of data, including identifiers, even when the consumer visits a different website or app. Some of these tools are necessary for websites and apps to provide services, and others typically are used for online advertising. Some of these tools can be used to help develop a website or app and offer services provided by other operators, which can increase competition. They also can be used to collect large amounts of data, particularly by third parties, causing some to raise consumer data privacy concerns.."
Consumer Data Collection