California Will Review Data Collected By Cars

California's privacy regulator has announced that it will review privacy concerns related to data collected by cars.  Americans heavily rely on their cars for their daily commute, travel, and other activities. Insurance companies already use car data in insurance pricing.  However, the specifics of how this data influences insurance rates remains somewhat of a mystery.  Federal regulators have also expressed interest in car data in the past. 

Why It Matters

Fairness and transparency in insurance pricing are a concern when premiums rely on car data, but we don't know how.  In addition, because of the way Americans use their cars -- i.e., for everything -- the data associated with them can be tied to individual and household activities, locations, and habits.  Those kinds of data points could reveal, directly or indirectly, things like health issues (visiting a specialty clinic), political proclivities (protesting or attending meetings at a certain location), religious or spiritual practices, and other things that we traditionally consider private and protected under various constitutional theories such as freedom of speech and assembly.  Having regulators involved may or may not improve the picture, but it is clear that car data has huge potential for privacy implications.  Since California tends to be at the forefront of privacy questions in the US, it is not surprising that the regulators there would be interested in this new frontier.