Cars today collect a lot more data than they used to, often leaving drivers’ privacy unprotected. Car insurance is mainly regulated at the state level—there’s no federal privacy law for car data—but unsurprisingly there is an active government and private market for vehicle data, including location data, which is difficult if not impossible to deidentify. Advertisers, investment companies, and insurance companies are among those who want to actively collect or use this data to deliver and enhance their products.
While we can’t anticipate all the issues that will emerge, vehicle data should not be used in ways that people do not understand or know about. And even when consumers agree to share their vehicle data, such as in exchange for better prices, we need proper guardrails in place to ensure data may only be used for purposes and by entities that people have agreed to.
Two components of mobility data have the highest value in the marketplace. The first is location data, which is incredibly sensitive. Where we go can easily point to who we are. A widely cited 2013 study from Nature found that four spatio-temporal points from an “anonymous” dataset can reidentify 95 percent of people. Just two could uniquely recognize 50 percent of people. Currently, much of that data is gathered from smartphones, but vehicle data is another common source.
The second is data used to derive risk, often referred to as telematics data. Some telematics data
[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.
Read the original article: