Renault and Dacia on privacy? Not so bad and better than their rivals

Are Gafams the dunces of privacy through their online services and their large collections of personal data? It’s not so certain anymore. Another family of actors is also famous for its bad practices.

It may not be obvious to their users, but cars, always more connected, collect large volumes of data. And manufacturers still clearly need to make progress on the subject of privacy, Mozilla notes.

Modern cars: a nightmare

“It’s official: Cars are the worst product category we have ever examined when it comes to privacy protection,” judge its researchers, who have reviewed 25 brands and devoted more than 600 hours to analyzing manufacturers’ privacy policies.

The assessment is therefore severe and modernization does not rhyme with good practices. “Modern cars are a privacy nightmare”, tackles Mozilla. All brands receive the “privacy not included” label.

First observation: the car brands scrutinized collect a lot of data, and even “more personal data than necessary.”In addition, the information collected is sometimes unrelated to the operation of the vehicle or the management of the relationship with the customer.

Manufacturers can also arrogate to themselves the right to collect very intimate information, including, for example, about the sexual life of users, but also driving speed, and the songs listened to behind the wheel.

Data sales: 76% of manufacturers plan to do so

But what then do the manufacturers do with this data? They exploit them in particular as part of their own research, their marketing or for “commercial purposes”, a last purpose “very vague.”

In addition, “most (84%) of the car brands we studied say that they can share your personal data with service providers, data brokers and other companies about whom we know little, if anything at all. Even worse, nineteen (76%) claim that they can sell your personal data.”

56% specify that they may have to share data with the government or law enforcement agencies in response to a request. “This is not a court decision, but something as simple as an informal request,” Mozilla is indignant.

Tesla king of tech, not privacy

Among the 25 brands that have been X-rayed are the French Renault and Dacia. And the latter rank among the ‘best’, even if they also inherit the label “privacy not included.” The researchers attribute the following comment to them: “As far as we can judge, they are not that bad.”We have known more rave reviews.

A concern persists about Renault regarding the systematic encryption of all personal data stored in cars. For Mozilla, Dacia and Renault undoubtedly benefit from the binding European regulatory framework.

The American manufacturers are thus less scrupulous in the field of privacy. Tesla, Elon Musk’s firm, stands out, but not in good. “This is not the worst car company that we have reviewed. That’s already it. However, this does not mean that they are good (…).”Here too, the praise is not blatant.