Cars and Consumer Data: On Unlawful Collection and Use

This is part of the reason why I drive an older car. No internet connectivity, mostly analog, and easy to fix when things go wrong.

I hope this is the last car that I own, not just for privacy reasons, but because I just don't want to be dependent on a car for financial, health, ecologic, and social reasons. I've lived without a car before and relied on rentals and rideshare when I needed them, and saved a ton of money. I'd rather go back to that life than to be required to choose between only bad and expensive options for transporting myself and my loved ones.

the tone of the article seems like the FTC is hopeful that a 176 billion dollar auto company somehow knows, or even cares about whether their consumers suffer any harm at all. once money has changed hands, this simply isnt the case.

It is an infinitely better business decision to collect as much data as you can from every vehicle, and when *(if) you encounter an FTC fine, just pay it as most fines from the government are inexpensive and do not require any admission of guilt or liability whatsoever.

An even more cogent long term strategy is to collect all this data and set up your own governance boards and policymakers to enshrine your business decisions into federal law, making it nearly impossible for any independent organization or agency to question or challenge your business decisions.