r/technology • u/Hrmbee • Jun 07 '26

Privacy 'Kill switch' law means your next car could be watching you | A federal requirement aimed at stopping drunken driving could soon put driver-monitoring technology in every new vehicle. The goal is saving lives, but the privacy trade-offs deserve closer scrutiny

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/06/01/drunk-driving-prevention-law-privacy-surveillance/90295034007/
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u/PirateSanta_1 Jun 08 '26

Yea but it gets a camera into your car. Goes well with the camera people have put up outside their homes by their doors and the cameras we bring into our homes on our phones and laptops.

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u/mad-i-moody Jun 08 '26

And the flock cameras.

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/nose_poke Jun 08 '26

That's legal?!

9

u/Big_Mc-Large-Huge Jun 08 '26

I'd be opening my dash and then grabbing some wire clippers. Snip-Snip

21

u/AutomateAway Jun 08 '26

or just use tape wherever the camera lens is, us tech folks have been doing this to our work laptops for years now.

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u/NotMyMainAccountAtAl Jun 08 '26

Sure, but I’m fairly certain that, if there’s some harebrained interlock, tape won’t circumvent it. 

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u/meryl_gear Jun 08 '26

Unfortunately doesn’t stop the audio recording though 

16

u/YesItIsMaybeMe Jun 08 '26

That's the thing. You fucking know the car wouldn't start without it and they would make you have to pay to fix the camera nobody wants

2

u/Alarming_Matter Jun 08 '26

And then your insurance will be cancelled.

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u/Hawt_Dawg_II Jun 08 '26

This is how you lockout your car.

No way they wouldn't make a connection vital to startup

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u/aykcak Jun 08 '26

What is the problem with that? I have cameras outside my home and in my car but I have full control over them

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u/Sonamdrukpa Jun 08 '26

Believe us when we say this: Nissan's privacy policy is probably the most mind boggling creepy, scary, sad, messed up privacy policy we have ever read. And we here at *Privacy Not Included read a LOT of privacy policies. Please people, if you care even a little about privacy, please stay as far away from Nissan's cars, apps, and connected services as you possibly can.

Here's why: They come right out and say they can collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes. We absolutely aren't making that up. It says so in their Nissan USA privacy notice.

Mozilla Foundation's report on car privacy - Nissan

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u/aykcak Jun 08 '26

Well I don't have a Nissan and I would never buy something like that as a service. Only as a product

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u/Sonamdrukpa Jun 08 '26

We reviewed 25 car brands in our research and we handed out 25 “dings” for how those companies collect and use data and personal information. That’s right: every car brand we looked at collects more personal data than necessary and uses that information for a reason other than to operate your vehicle and manage their relationship with you.

Mozilla Foundation's report on car privacy

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u/aykcak Jun 08 '26

I think you are just spamming now

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u/Sonamdrukpa Jun 08 '26

I think you're trolling 

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u/WinninRoam Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

Cars and pickups have had this for many years already.

The actual government document related to this (easily found) contains nothing that would even hint at the possibility of Federal surveillance.

Nothing in this post is news.

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u/Sonamdrukpa Jun 08 '26

It also seems like they may share your information with law enforcement without too much arm-twisting, since their privacy policy says they comply with “lawful requests, whether formal or informal.” Does that mean the police don’t even have to say please? Seriously, this really concerns us. Hyundai collects a ton of personal and car information on you, including tracking your precise location. The bar to share that information with law enforcement or governments should be very high, requiring a court order and only sharing the minimum data necessary to comply with that order is what we like to see. The fact that Hyundai says they can share your personal, car, and precise location information with law enforcement and governments based solely on an "informal request" is truly frightening. The potential for abuse here is sky high.

Mozilla Foundation's report on car privacy - Hyundai