My Car Knows My Secrets, and I'm (Mostly) OK With That

COMMENTARY

If you drive an Internet-connected car, like I do, your real threat isn't a cop with a radar gun: It's your vehicle becoming a giant, metal snitch. Under your hood, through miles of circuitry, lies a dark secret: Data brokers are collecting every detail of your trip, from where you grab your morning coffee to that shortcut you take to avoid rush hour. They say it's for safety and a better driving experience, but regardless, the idea of our cars spying on us can be terrifying. However, before we admonish our all-seeing rides, we must be honest with ourselves — the convenience we opt into isn't the same as a full-blown invasion of privacy. 

I've been in cybersecurity for more than a decade, taking the fight to the worst threat actors and fending off market-shifting phishing attacks. I get the whole "privacy matters" spiel. But let's face it: We crave convenience and yet complete privacy on the road isn't always practical, especially when it comes to safety. 

My garage houses its own fleet of Teslas — three to be exact, including one for my teenage daughter (just to be clear, I'm not an Elon fanboy). I love these cars because they're packed with safety features that allow me to monitor and supervise our driving. This is important to me because teenagers and speeding go together like peanut butter and jelly. Age aside, who among us hasn't rolled through a stop sign in the wee hours? We all have imperfections, and for me and my family, that includes the occasional lapses in driving that I want to know about. 

Some folks might clutch their pearls at the thought of supporting tracking features, and in some cases they'd be right. I can scoff at the US Automobile Association's (USAA) attempt to totally track me with its SafePilot app just for an insurance discount. But Tesla's monitoring feature that lets me see where my daughter ghosts off to after curfew? Totally different.  

It's all about commonsense control. USAA wants to use my data to judge my driving and probably jack up costs down the road. Tesla's features, and others like it, skew toward safety and meaningful oversight (again, not an Elon fanboy).  

Picking and Choosing Our Privacy Choices

The point is, we're all picking and choosing when it comes to privacy, whether we know it or not. We crave convenience and control, even if it means sacrificing a bit of anonymity in the digital age. But is this the future we signed up for? Convenience at the expense of complete transparency? We willingly hand over our data to the tech giants — the Apples and Googles of the world — trusting them to be our benevolent data overlords. They assure us our information is anonymized, like a digital cloak of invisibility protecting our identities. And we just have to trust them. Here's the thing: I sleep soundly at night knowing my Internet-connected car's got my back (and my daughter's). 

That isn't to say this is a black-and-white issue. We do need a data reality check. Yes, personalized data collection can be a good thing. Suggesting that scenic rest stop on your road trip through Yosemite is super helpful. But the line gets blurry when that same data allows insurance companies to track your movements or marketers to manipulate you into buying an overpriced Chick-fil-A sandwich along your normal route home. 

In less safe, opted-in hands, our so-called anonymized data becomes a dystopian road map of our lives, influencing everything from insurance rates to targeted ads for the nearest repair shop (because, hey, after that questionable parking job, you must need one!). 

The bigger problem is the lack of transparency and accountability. Just how much anonymized data gets used for less helpful purposes remains unclear. We're quick to click "Accept" on those endless terms-of-service agreements faster than you can say "data breach." Suddenly, your reckless driving habits, gleaned from your helpful Internet-connected car, could torpedo your chances of getting an auto loan, or worse. It's like having a digital stalker whispering the worst, juiciest gossip about you to lenders. 

Even worse, malicious threat actors, particularly nation-state groups, lurk in these gray areas. They're exploiting vulnerabilities in data transmission protocols or storage systems to snag sensitive driver information — everything from real-time location to private conversations. This grants them a frightening level of control over individuals as well as the potential to disrupt critical infrastructure. 

We Deserve a Say

So, the next time you scoff at a car's "stalker" features, take a good look at your own smartphone, brimming with data-hungry apps. Maybe a little commonsense privacy hypocrisy is the price we pay for our self-driving, AI-powered future. In the meantime, we still deserve a say in how our data is used. We need stricter regulations and a healthy dose of skepticism toward "anonymous data" claims. Governments can incentivize research and development in secure data storage and anonymization techniques. This way, businesses can offer new services without compromising user privacy. 

Privacy isn't a luxury. It's a fundamental right. Let's not trade it away for the fleeting convenience of a perfectly optimized commute. This is a fight for our data, privacy, and the freedom to exist online without being constantly tracked and judged if we don't want it. Remember Rage Against the Machine? They're still my favorite band. I can't help but feel that one of their lyrics rings true here: "If we don't take action now, we settle for nothing later." If we don't take action now, we'll surrender our privacy bit by bit, until there's nothing left.