Your car is spying on you. That is one takeaway from the detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of the Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk's company was impressive but spotlights a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels, the AP reports. "You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals, but can anyone have access to it?" said Jodi Daniels, CEO of the privacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors. "Where is the line?"
Many of the latest cars not only know where you've been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, your texts, and other sensitive information thanks to cellphone syncing. The data collected by Musk's electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel proved valuable to police in helping track the driver's movements. Within hours of the New Year's Day explosion that burned the driver beyond recognition and injured seven people, Tesla was able to track Matthew Livelsberger's movements in detail from Denver to Las Vegas and confirm that the cause was explosives in the truck, not the truck itself. Tesla used data collected from charging stations and from onboard software—and to great acclaim.
"I have to thank Elon Musk, specifically," said Sheriff Kevin McMahill. "He gave us quite a bit of additional information." Some privacy experts were less enthusiastic. "It reveals the kind of sweeping surveillance going on," said David Choffnes of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University. "When something bad happens, it's helpful, but it's a double-edged sword. Companies that collect this data can abuse it." General Motors was sued in August by Texas' attorney general, accused of selling data from 1.8 million drivers to insurance companies without their consent. There are no federal laws regulating car data. "This is one of the biggest ethical issues we have around modern vehicles," said an auto analyst at Telemetry Insight. "They're connected."
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