Recently, the Mozilla Foundation caused a stir by revealing that nearly all contemporary vehicles present a “privacy nightmare on wheels.” The findings by Mozilla shed light on how automakers are authorized to amass significant amounts of their clients’ sensitive data, including details on “sexual orientation” and “sexual activities.” Responding to Mozilla’s report, BMW North America issued a recent statement.
BMW NA highlighted five alleged inaccuracies in Mozilla’s report that required clarification. Primarily, BMW NA emphasized that customers have the option to decline certain data collections.
“All BMW vehicle interfaces grant consumers the ability to choose to participate or abstain from various forms of data collection and processing within their vehicles,” BMW NA stated. “If preferred, BMW clients can opt out of ALL discretionary data [emphasis BMW’s] gathering related to their vehicles at their convenience by accessing the BMW iDrive screen in their vehicle.”
BMW
The crucial aspect here is opting out, not opting in. Essentially, all discretionary data collection in BMW vehicles occurs by default. Clients, many of whom understandably struggle to fully grasp modern infotainment systems, must navigate to their Bimmer’s iDrive settings and direct the vehicle to halt its surveillance activity, instead of granting permission for it to spy on them. What about the other facets?
