Auto insurance companies and car dealerships are spying on you (Updated)
image credit: CTV News
Warning, if you used the DealerApp you've just given approximately 500 car dealerships all your personal information!
"The personal information collected by the apps and allegedly transmitted to DealerApp included the consumer’s name, email address, telephone number, and the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle purchased, among other data. The state alleged that DealerApp failed to disclose to consumers that this data was being transmitted by DealerApp, in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Some of the data was provided to third-party data analytics companies, again without disclosure, the state charged."
According to Consumer Affairs.com "About 500 dealers world-wide, including 38 in New Jersey, are DealerApp clients."
“The number of threats to online privacy appear to be growing by the day,” said Steve Lee, Acting Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. “No one should be able to profit from the personal information of others that has been obtained through cyber fraud or violations of privacy.”
Here are a few new car apps that might be also spying on you, "TrueCar," "Cars.com," "CarChecker ," "Edmunds," "CarMax ," "Kelley Blue Book." Keep in mind anytime you voluntarily give away your personal information, anyone & everyone will have access to it.
Remember car dealers had to be forced to keep most of our information private, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was designed to stop car dealerships shady business practices. Click here to read the "FTC's Privacy Rule and Auto Dealers" and here to read the "A Dealer Guide To The FTC Privacy Rule and Model Privacy Notice."
Car dealerships have also been known to install GPS devices in their cars so they can locate them more easily when customers fail to pay back their loans...
"If you have a low opinion of car dealerships thanks to their 20 percent interest loans, bi-monthly payment requirements and aggressive repossession tactics, wait until you hear about their latest strategy for getting cars back from owners who fall behind on payments."
"They don't want the customer to know that if they don't pay, they can come find it," said Duane Overholt, an industry critic who runs the website stopautofraud.com.
GPS services like OnStar spy on you everywhere you go even if you cancel the service, click here to read more.
Location privacy issues in car sharing services, like Zipcar are also a concern...
"This could be used to build a predictive model and expose some privacy issue on drivers’ behaviors and habits."
The irony of course is car manufacturers have been making cars that spy on us for years.
Allstate Insurance wants cameras to spy on other drivers and identify any distractions:
Allstate's “Traffic-based Driving Analysis" patent uses sensors and cameras to record potential sources of driver distractions inside your car like a cell phone, pets or unsecured objects in vehicle.It'll also spy on the number and types of passengers inside the car!
Quoting from the American Police State party line, Allstate says it's all for driver "SAFETY" which is B**LLSH*T!
It's about spying on everyone and turning a huge profit...
“Most of the Allstate patent provides more detail on the company's potential vision for developing driver safety ratings based on such factors as vehicle speed, acceleration and adherence to stop signs. For example, operation of the vehicle without headlights and changes in vehicle direction without turn signals might be recorded.”
Did you catch that? Insurance companies want to spy on whether you come to a complete stop at a STOP sign and whether you use your TURN signals.
“Usually the drill is to create as broad a patent as is defensible so the company can monetize it if someone else wants to license it,” said Harold J. Krent, dean of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. “But on the other hand, if they apply the patent at its broadest, there’s huge implications in term of who gets the information, who it’s shared with – will the information go to health insurance companies, will it go to police authorities, to child custody attorneys? We simply don’t know right now.”
Of course we know, soon every police department will want access to this technology.
Updated 10/26:
Irish police want car manufacturers to install tracking devices in EVERY new vehicle...
A motor industry body has backed a suggestion by a Fine Gael backbencher that all vehicles should have tracking devices fitted to help gardaí (police) find them when they are stolen or used in crime.
Noel Harrington, a TD for Cork South West was speaking in the Dáil on the topical issue of car theft late last week.
“We need to find a legislative solution for implementing a technological framework that would revolutionize the capacity of the Garda Síochána to combat crime, particularly mobile crime, by taking the legs from under the criminal.”
Insurance companies want to sell your driving habits to the government, potential employees, banks, credit card companies and that's just for starters.
Allstate's Chief Executive Tom Wilson then raised the question of whether Allstate could or should "sell this information we get from people driving around to various people and capture some additional profit and, perhaps, give a better value proposition to our customers that we're not giving today?"
"The recorded data may also provide an objective behavioral data collection system for third parties, e.g., health insurance companies, lending institutions, credit-rating companies, product and service marketing companies, potential employers, to evaluate an individual's behavioral characteristics in a real-life and commonly experienced situation, i.e., driving a motor vehicle," the patent said.
The future of American policing is staring everyone in the face, it's no longer about safety it's about balancing their budgets, paying for the 2.3 million in our jails and the untold millions who have been ticketed and fined by police.
Here's the breakdown from Insurance Business America on what Allstate wants to spy on:
Who is riding in the car, including the number and age of passengers
“Potentially distracting” objects in the car, including animals trash or bags
Alcohol content in the air (which should come as no surprise to my readers, click here to find out more)
Allstate also has patent called "Motor Vehicle Operating Data Collection and Analysis" system.
A new 'intelligent car seat' can detect a driver's stress level:
The "Active Wellness" seat is the world's first health-monitoring car seat. It uses a biometric sensing system built into the seat lining that can detect if the driver has a drop in energy levels or is under stress and responds with a specific massage pattern, along with air flow through the seat's ventilation system.
"The Active Wellness seat is Faurecia's vision on the next level of personalized comfort," said Olaf Biedermann, director of innovation at Faurecia. "What we basically do is to monitor respiration rate and heart rate in the seat, and we derive stress and energy level from that. Then, having this kind of wellness being information, we now can offer a closed-loop comfort system; so in case you are stressed you get a relaxation massage, in case you have low energy levels you get a very energizing massage."
"The Faurecia Active Wellness seat adapts to the needs of each individual. It capitalizes on the car seat’s distinct position as a location for capturing occupants’ emotional status and enhancing their wellbeing."
Major auto insurance companies including Allstate, Progressive and State Farm are trying to get drivers to install “telematic devices” in their cars. These surveillance gadgets are marketed under various names and are plugged into your vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port.
In the past five years, the use of social media has exploded within the insurance industry, says Frank Darras, an insurance attorney in Ontario, California, who represents plaintiffs in suits against insurance companies. Because social media Web sites provide a real-time examination of users' lifestyles, insurance companies, claims adjusters and attorneys have begun to monitor and mine them as a valuable source of claims-investigation evidence. Insurers are reviewing information found on such social media sites as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Plus and Pinterest, and applying it to auto claims, says Chicago personal injury lawyer Michael Helfand.
"This happens all the time," he says.
Facebook is used in almost every claim now, especially when there is an injury. "Checking social media accounts has become one of the first things an insurance company or adjuster will do when you file a claim," adds Darras. Especially when any injuries stem from the accident.
Most car companies have connectivity systems, that constantly ping your whereabouts to the automakers, police and of course you! Here are some examples: “HondaLink,”“BlueLink,” "Subaru Star Link," “AudiConnect,” “MazdaConnect” and “uConnect.”
A car’s data is an absolute treasure trove of information on individuals and can be accessed by a surprisingly large number of organizations said Vincent Gogolek, Freedom of Information and Privacy Association's executive director.
The latest in-car entertainment systems provide GPS navigation and instant two-way communication to motorists. But they can also be used to relay information about a car's systems to automakers. And that can invade consumers' privacy, as General Motors found out last year.
Nissan's new Leaf electric car lets owners and Nissan know every drivers location; speed and distance; driving habits; battery use, charging history and deterioration; electrical system functions; software version; "and other spot data to assist in identifying and analyzing the performance of the Nissan Leaf." Owners must give their permission. The data are stored on a computer in Japan by vehicle identification number, or VIN, without personal information. Click here to read more.
In 2012, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that 96% of 2013 model vehicles have event data recorders which can track when the airbags are set off, if brakes are applied before a collision and even whether the seatbelts were buckled.
Chevrolet’s 2016 Malibu will feature a system called "Teen Driver" that lets parents SPY on their kid’s driving habits.
It allows parents to set speed alerts, limit audio volume, and even receive vehicle reports “so parents could use it as a teaching tool with their kids—they can discuss and reinforce safe driving habits.”
Teens drivers will also get an audible and visual warning if a vehicle travels over pre-set speeds (between 40 and 75 miles per hour.
The 2015 Corvette comes with a new illegal spying feature, called the "Data Performance Recorder."
The 2015 Corvette “industry-exclusive Performance Data Recorder,” collects stats about a particular drive as well as audio and video.
According to Chevrolet’s website: “You can even capture video and data when someone else is driving the car with Valet Mode, giving you extra peace of mind.”
Electronic Control Units which are in every vehicle, keep track of everything from how fast you drive to how long your car idles and how suddenly you brake, the report says. Your car’s GPS system, for example, also keeps track of your exact location, sending that information to the car’s manufacturer, or possibly a third-party call center or an insurance agency.
Detailed information about where a person spends their time paints a disturbing picture of their life!
“Such data can be used to embarrass or blackmail a person, to stalk individuals, to steal identities, to facilitate robberies, or to create a profile that can then be used by commercial entities in unexpected ways.”
"There's no federal rule in place for requiring V2V yet, but the US Department of Transportation is hoping to get those rules in place by the end of this year — and in the meantime, it's rolling out huge new pilot programs in NYC, Florida and Wyoming. In the New York City traffic signals will be equipped with V2I hardware, while up to 10,000 city-owned vehicles will be outfitted with V2V. (It's unclear whether drivers of these vehicles will have access to the data through instrumentation, or whether it's just being collected as part of the DOT's ongoing V2V research.) Click here to read more.
Somewhere in the not too distant future..
You and your family take a 3 1/2 hour drive. As you're driving down the highway you notice you're going 15 miles over the speed limit not to worry you think, you haven't seen a cop for miles. As you exit the highway, the road appears deserted so you come to a rolling stop at a few intersections. And finally just as you get close to your destination you get stuck behind a slow moving vehicle, frustrated by the long drive you pass the vehicle without using a turn signal in a no passing zone.
When you finally arrive at your destination, you think to yourself, we were lucky we didn't see a single cop. Upon arriving home from your trip you get a notice of numerous traffic violations totaling hundreds of dollars from the police in EVERY town where you committed an infraction. And you also got a notice informing you that your auto insurance plans to deduct drivers license points, resulting in higher insurance premiums.
All this thanks to the numerous spying technologies that are in use right now. One's like traffic and highway cams, Fast Lane transponders, insurance surveillance gear and auto manufacturer black boxes.