Danish Watchdog Advises Car Owners: Know Your Privacy Rights
Many new cars collect large amounts of data about people, often without their knowledge, Denmark's Data Protection Agency said Monday.
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While connected vehicles are part of technological development, they come with a hidden cost since they collect everything from daily routines to biometric data, the DPA noted. As such, it urged car owners to understand their rights and take control of how their data is used.
Cars' collection of data raises issues of unclear consent to the use of personal information; data misuse, with personal data shared with third parties; targeted marketing from other companies without users' full knowledge; and negative impacts such as higher insurance rates or warranty cancelations, the agency said.
Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, however, drivers have rights, the DPA said. Their consent to data collection must be transparent and voluntary, which means that, among other things, they must be able to refuse data collection and sharing without losing access to the car's basic functions.
Data subjects also have the right to know what's collected and who it's shared with, and to object to processing and require that data be deleted when it's no longer needed, the DPA said.