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Follow TURFBlack boxes: Is your car spying on you?
Is your car spying on you? GPS tracks ‘consumers,’ identity theft at risk
Data collection raises concerns
By Phillip Swarts
Washington Times
January 7, 2014
Consumers' locations and other data are at risk of being leaked by companies that run automobile navigation services like GPS, a report has found, putting the national debate on privacy behind the wheel.
Despite telling consumers they are collecting the information and seeking consent, companies do not always disclose what information is collected and how it is used. Companies are also inconsistent when it comes to giving drivers the ability to delete their information.
"The companies' privacy practices were, in certain instances, unclear, which could make it difficult for consumers to understand the privacy risks that may exist," said a report from the Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog arm.
Privacy advocacy groups are concerned "that location data can be used to track where consumers are, which can in turn be used to steal their identity, stalk them, or monitor them without their knowledge," the investigative agency said.
"Anytime you're collecting data about consumers, there's a need to be aware of what the companies are doing and the implications of holding that data," said Alan Butler, an attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "It's an issue people to need to be aware of. We haven't heard yet of any major breaches or major violations of consumer rights."
The increasing use of communication and location-based computers and gadgets in cars — called telematics — in some cases has left the government scrambling to keep up.
"Currently, no comprehensive federal privacy law governs the collection, use, and sale of personal information by private-sector companies," the GAO said. "While legislative proposals aimed at protecting the privacy of location data by mobile devices and navigation systems have been introduced by members of Congress, none of the proposals have been enacted."
The GAO looked at 10 companies involved in the automobile industry, including manufacturers: Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota, GPS producers Garmin and TomTom, and navigation developers Google Maps and Telenav.
All 10 companies tell drivers they are collecting information, but some don't disclose what information they are collecting or why, which could "allow for unlimited data collection and use," the GAO said. Likewise, all the companies tell drivers the information is shared with third parties but don't always give a reason.
Some don't give drivers a choice to delete their personal data, a necessary step in maintaining privacy, Mr. Butler said. Keeping records of the data could create a repository of personal information that could be accessed easily by hackers or by law enforcement personnel against the driver's wishes.
"Obviously this data, if it was breached, could reveal a great deal of information about individual drivers," he said, adding that tracking someone's car could reveal where they live, work and worship, among other things.
The Washington Times reached out to representatives for all 10 companies named in the report, which the GAO said represent the most widely used services or majority of the market.
TomTom, the Netherlands-based GPS maker, said it operates under the strictest privacy laws in that nation and provides "respect and safeguard" of drivers' contributions.
"We always ask permission to use any data provided by our TomTom users, informing them how we will use it and allowing them to opt out at any time," a statement form the company said. "All data provided is anonymised and aggregated. We never share customers' private location data with third parties."
Telenav, which produces navigation apps and software, said all information it receives is assigned a number and can't be matched with a particular driver. The anonymous information can be shared with third-party traffic service providers to give real-time information, a service the company said it believes its customers expect.
"Location data is integral to the functionality of our location-based navigation products," said spokeswoman MaryBeth Lowell. "We would not be able to provide maps, navigation directions, traffic updates, rerouting directions, nearby point-of-interest searches, etc., without it. However, we make every effort to respect the sensitive nature of this data."
Information on drivers is collected to provide turn-by-turn directions and traffic information, locate vehicles for roadside assistance or recovery from theft, and give information on nearby gas stations, restaurants or charging stations for electric vehicles, among other reasons.
The GAO said some estimates expect use of telematics services to triple from 11.8 million subscribers in 2012 to 31.6 million in 2016.
Most of the time, companies will make efforts to "de-identify" data, such as listing a vehicle's location but giving no information about the make and model of the car or the identity of the driver. However, there is no industry standard, and the ways companies try to protect the data vary, giving drivers differing levels of security.
Sometimes the businesses are using security measures that could still risk privacy, the GAO said, such as assigning each driver a number instead of using a name. After several trips, it would be easy to discern the number's driving habits and possibly their home, leading consumers to be "re-identified."
"While selected companies safeguard location data in part by de-identifying them, companies use different de-identification methods that may lead to varying levels of protection for consumers," the GAO said.
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A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue
The devices would track every mile you drive —possibly including your location — and the government would use the data to draw up a tax bill.
By Evan Halper
October 26, 2013
WASHINGTON — As America's road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see a solution in a little black box that fitsneatly by the dashboard of your car.
The devices, which track every mile a motorist drives and transmit that information to bureaucrats, are at the center of a controversial attempt in Washington and state planning offices to overhaul the outdated system for funding America's major roads.
The usually dull arena of highway planning has suddenly spawned intense debate and colorful alliances. Libertarianshave joined environmental groups in lobbying to allow government to use the little boxes to keep track of the miles you drive, and possibly where you drive them — then use the information to draw up a tax bill.
The tea party is aghast. The American Civil Liberties Union is deeply concerned, too, raising a variety of privacy issues.
And while Congress can't agree on whether to proceed, several states are not waiting. They are exploring how, over the next decade, they can move to a system in which drivers pay per mile of road they roll over. Thousands of motorists have already taken the black boxes, some of which have GPS monitoring, for a test drive.
"This really is a must for our nation. It is not a matter of something we might choose to do," said Hasan Ikhrata, executive director of the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which is planning for the state to start tracking miles driven by every California motorist by 2025.
"There is going to be a change in how we pay these taxes. The technology is there to do it."
The push comes as the country's Highway Trust Fund, financed with taxes Americans pay at the gas pump, is broke. Americans don't buy as much gas as they used to. Cars get many more miles to the gallon. The federal tax itself, 18.4 cents per gallon, hasn't gone up in 20 years. Politicians are loath to raise the tax even one penny when gas prices are high.
"The gas tax is just not sustainable," said Lee Munnich, a transportation policy expert at the University of Minnesota. His state recently put tracking devices on 500 cars to test out a pay-by-mile system.
"This works out as the most logical alternative over the long term," he said.
Wonks call it a mileage-based user fee. It is no surprise that the idea appeals to urban liberals, as the taxes could be rigged to change driving patterns in ways that could help reduce congestion and greenhouse gases, for example. California planners are looking to the system as they devise strategies to meet the goals laid out in the state's ambitious global warming laws. But Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has said he, too, sees it as the most viable long-term alternative. The free marketeers at the Reason Foundation are also fond of having drivers pay per mile.
"This is not just a tax going into a black hole," said Adrian Moore, vice president of policy at Reason. "People are paying more directly into what they are getting."
The movement is also bolstered by two former U.S. Transportation secretaries, who in a 2011 report urged Congress to move in the pay-per-mile direction.
The U.S. Senate approved a $90-million pilot project last year that would have involved about 10,000 cars. But the House leadership killed the proposal, acting on concerns of rural lawmakers representing constituents whose daily lives often involve logging lots of miles to get to work or into town.
Several states and cities are nonetheless moving ahead on their own. The most eager is Oregon, which is enlisting 5,000 drivers in the country's biggest experiment. Those drivers will soon pay the mileage fees instead of gas taxes to the state. Nevada has already completed a pilot. New York City is looking into one. Illinois is trying it on a limited basis with trucks. And the I-95 Coalition, which includes 17 state transportation departments along the Eastern Seaboard (including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida), is studying how they could go about implementing the change.
The concept is not a universal hit.
In Nevada, where about 50 volunteers' cars were equipped with the devices not long ago, drivers were uneasy about the government being able to monitor their every move.
"Concerns about Big Brother and those sorts of things were a major problem," said Alauddin Khan, who directs strategic and performance management at the Nevada Department of Transportation. "It was not something people wanted."
As the trial got underway, the ACLU of Nevada warned on its website: "It would be fairly easy to turn these devices into full-fledged tracking devices.... There is no need to build an enormous, unwieldy technological infrastructure that will inevitably be expanded to keep records of individuals' everyday comings and goings."
Nevada is among several states now scrambling to find affordable technology that would allow the state to keep track of how many miles a car is being driven, but not exactly where and at what time. If you can do that, Khan said, the public gets more comfortable.
The hunt for that technology has led some state agencies to a small California startup called True Mileage. The firm was not originally in the business of helping states tax drivers. It was seeking to break into an emerging market in auto insurance, in which drivers would pay based on their mileage. But the devices it is testing appeal to highway planners because they don't use GPS and deliver a limited amount of information, uploaded periodically by modem.
"People will be more willing to do this if you do not track their speed and you do not track their location," said Ryan Morrison, chief executive of True Mileage. "There have been some big mistakes in some of these state pilot programs. There are a lot less expensive and less intrusive ways to do this."
In Oregon, planners are experimenting with giving drivers different choices. They can choose a device with or without GPS. Or they can choose not to have a device at all, opting instead to pay a flat fee based on the average number of miles driven by all state residents.
Other places are hoping to sell the concept to a wary public by having the devices do more, not less. In New York City, transportation officials are seeking to develop a taxing device that would also be equipped to pay parking meter fees, provide "pay-as-you-drive" insurance, and create a pool of real-time speed data from other drivers that motorists could use to avoid traffic.
"Motorists would be attracted to participate … because of the value of the benefits it offers to them," says a city planning document.
Some transportation planners, though, wonder if all the talk about paying by the mile is just a giant distraction. At the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area, officials say Congress could very simply deal with the bankrupt Highway Trust Fund by raising gas taxes. An extra one-time or annual levy could be imposed on drivers of hybrids and others whose vehicles don't use much gas, so they pay their fair share.
"There is no need for radical surgery when all you need to do is take an aspirin," said Randy Rentschler, the commission's director of legislation and public affairs. "If we do this, hundreds of millions of drivers will be concerned about their privacy and a host of other things."