Study Finds Many New Cars Share Your Data With Third-Party Companies

{"heading_1":"Data Sharing in New Cars","paragraph_1":"The study analyzed traffic from 21 vehicles and 30 automaker apps, finding that 19 of the cars sent data to at least one third-party company via Wi-Fi.","paragraph_2":"Nine of the apps passed identifiers like VINs, email addresses, and precise locations to advertising and analytics companies, with four of those apps belonging to GM.","paragraph_3":"GM's apps, including myCadillac, myChevrolet, myBuick, and myGMC, sent VINs to 10 companies, including Microsoft and Adobe.","paragraph_4":"HondaLink sent VINs and location to the analytics firm Amplitude, while the Lincoln and MyNISSAN apps made up the remainder of the list.","paragraph_5":"The study found that 10 of the 21 cars contacted no advertising or tracking domains on their own, with the Buick Envista and Nissan Ariya being among them.","paragraph_6":"Tesla's Model 3 reached 22 advertising and tracking companies from the car while its app added two, with the real totals likely to be higher.","paragraph_7":"Most of the ad-tech exposure came from the phone app, with 28 of the 30 apps contacting at least one advertising or analytics company.","paragraph_8":"Automakers claim that data flows match their vendor contracts, but some apps disclose that they may pass personal data to third parties without specifying which ones or why.","paragraph_9":"Regulators are recommended to step in to address the privacy concerns raised by the study."}