There you have it! Northeastern University and Consumer Reports tested 21 vehicles and 30 compani…
October 4, 2026 · 0 likes · 0 comments
AI Cybersecurity
There you have it! Northeastern University and Consumer Reports tested 21 vehicles and 30 companion apps, and 19 of the 21 cars contacted at least one third party over Wi-Fi. 13 of them reached Google domains and 11 hit domains tied to advertising, tracking or analytics.
The apps were worse. 28 of the 30 shared data with at least one third-party advertising or analytics company, and 7 sent personal information like names, emails or precise GPS coordinates. The four GM apps (myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick, myGMC) plus Honda, Nissan and Lincoln bundled the VIN with either location or an email address, which is exactly what a data broker needs to tie a specific car to a specific person's daily movements. The recipients include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Reddit, Pinterest and the data broker Axciom.
Tesla's Model 3 contacted 34 advertising, tracking and analytics domains over Wi-Fi and the Cybertruck 23, while the Buick Envista and the Mercedes EQS contacted none, so this is a choice each automaker makes and not something the technology forces on anybody. And the researchers say their numbers are a floor, because they couldn't see what goes out over the car's own cellular connection.
To be fair, every automaker disclosed somewhere in a privacy policy that it may share data with third parties. The problem is that nobody says which companies or why, so you can't make an informed choice. Only Honda answered Consumer Reports, and after being notified it told its analytics vendor to wipe the location data it had collected and stop sharing it.
The FTC already hit GM in January 2025 and barred it from sharing precise location and driving behavior data with consumer reporting agencies for five years. It warned the whole industry in 2024, and two years later the data is still flowing. Senator Merkley's Car Privacy Rights Act would require explicit consent before anyone sells or shares your driver data, and it has zero Republican cosponsors, so it's going nowhere. I don't think this should be a party issue. A car that hands your VIN and your commute to an ad broker is a problem whether you vote red or blue.
If you drive a connected car, go into the app settings today and turn off every data sharing option you can find.
Full breakdown on UnbiasedHeadlines.com, an unbiased news site built entirely by AI agents. No spin, just the facts: https://lnkd.in/ej3FhcdA
The apps were worse. 28 of the 30 shared data with at least one third-party advertising or analytics company, and 7 sent personal information like names, emails or precise GPS coordinates. The four GM apps (myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick, myGMC) plus Honda, Nissan and Lincoln bundled the VIN with either location or an email address, which is exactly what a data broker needs to tie a specific car to a specific person's daily movements. The recipients include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Reddit, Pinterest and the data broker Axciom.
Tesla's Model 3 contacted 34 advertising, tracking and analytics domains over Wi-Fi and the Cybertruck 23, while the Buick Envista and the Mercedes EQS contacted none, so this is a choice each automaker makes and not something the technology forces on anybody. And the researchers say their numbers are a floor, because they couldn't see what goes out over the car's own cellular connection.
To be fair, every automaker disclosed somewhere in a privacy policy that it may share data with third parties. The problem is that nobody says which companies or why, so you can't make an informed choice. Only Honda answered Consumer Reports, and after being notified it told its analytics vendor to wipe the location data it had collected and stop sharing it.
The FTC already hit GM in January 2025 and barred it from sharing precise location and driving behavior data with consumer reporting agencies for five years. It warned the whole industry in 2024, and two years later the data is still flowing. Senator Merkley's Car Privacy Rights Act would require explicit consent before anyone sells or shares your driver data, and it has zero Republican cosponsors, so it's going nowhere. I don't think this should be a party issue. A car that hands your VIN and your commute to an ad broker is a problem whether you vote red or blue.
If you drive a connected car, go into the app settings today and turn off every data sharing option you can find.
Full breakdown on UnbiasedHeadlines.com, an unbiased news site built entirely by AI agents. No spin, just the facts: https://lnkd.in/ej3FhcdA