1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I write to you today to respectfully ask and demand that you vigorously support and enact legislature to extend privacy protections, specifically for owners of newer-model automobiles. Nowadays, new cars are embedded through and through with sensors, trackers, and sophisticated communication devices built-in. While there is a justified use case for this technology, eg. providing driving assist, safety, and entertainment features, car manufacturers reserve the right to obtain, analyze, and use this data without the drivers' consent. These privacy intrusions are detailed in hundred-pages long privacy statements that drivers cannot opt out of, or in some cases, not even readily access. In these obscure privacy statements, car manufacturers require that drivers consent to a degree of data collection and scrutiny that is unnecessary, dangerous, and frankly, extremely creepy. For example, in a recent analysis by the Mozilla Foundation, Nissan grants itself the right to monitor or infer drivers' “sexual activity.” Not to be outdone, Kia mentions they can collect information about drivers' “sex life” in their privacy policy. Additionally, six car companies say they can collect your “genetic information” or “genetic characteristics.” There is no legitimate reason for a car company to be collecting or inferring this kind of personal, inviolable information about anyone. We live in an age of near-constant data leaks and data breaches, and car companies are not less vulnerable than retailers, banks, or credit card companies. I foresee that without strong legislation to curb these unnecessary and intrusive data collection practices, every American will learn from bitter experience what happens when every detail of their personal, intimate, private lives falls into the wrong hands.