The risks posed by automobile data in the wrong hands. Car Makers Shouldn’t Be Selling Our Driving History to Data Brokers and Insurance Companies.

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

James Wesley Rawles September 12, 2024 September 10, 2024

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, we look at the risks posed by automobile data in the wrong hands.

Did Your Car Witness a Crime? Police May Tow Your Tesla

In the S.F. Chronicle: Did your car witness a crime? Bay Area police may be coming for your Tesla — and they might tow it.

Insurance Companies Buying Car Driving History

EFF: Car Makers Shouldn’t Be Selling Our Driving History to Data Brokers and Insurance Companies. Here is a pericope:

“Technological advancements in cars have come a long way since General Motors launched OnStar in 1996. From the influx of mobile data facilitating in-car navigation, to the rise of telematics in the 2010s, cars today are more internet-connected than ever. This enables, for example, delivery of emergency warnings, notice of when you need an oil change, and software updates. Recent research predicts that by 2030, more than 95% of new passenger cars will contain some form of internet-connected service and surveillance.

Car manufacturers including General Motors, Kia, Subaru, and Mitsubishi have some form of services or apps that collect, maintain, and distribute your connected car data to insurance companies. Insurance companies spend thousands of dollars purchasing your car data to factor in these “select insights” about your driving behavior. Those insights are then factored into your “risk score,” which can potentially spike your insurance premiums.”

How Courts Are Working Around Bruen

The latest video from gun law attorney William Kirk: This is How They’re Going to Work Around Bruen. JWR’s Comments: The Ninth Circuit Court is notoriously leftist/statist.

Migrant Arrests at Northern Border Sector Up 19.7X

Coming in “the soft way”: Migrant Arrests at Northern Border Sector Up 197 Percent over Record-Shattering FY23.

Up to 75 Percent of NYC Crime: Illegal Immigrants

Another from H.L.: Thanks, Biden-Harris—Cops Estimate Up to 75 Percent of Manhattan Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants.

SWAT Home Destruction Going to the Supreme Court

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: A SWAT Team Destroyed Their Home, Now This Family Is Going to the Supreme Court. The article begins:

“Vicki Baker was ready to close the sale of her house in McKinney, Texas, in July four years ago. She and her new husband were settling into a new home in Montana. Her daughter, Deanna Cook, lived in the McKinney house pending the sale closing.

She said the future seemed as bright and boundless as the view from her Montana mountaintop home.

On July 25, 2020, the sale was canceled, the house had more than $50,000 in damage courtesy of the McKinney Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team, and a fugitive was lying dead in what had been Baker’s master bedroom.

Baker, and the public interest law firm, Institute for Justice, have petitioned the U.S Supreme Court to hear Baker’s claim that the damage constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As such, the city would be obligated to provide Baker just compensation for the damage.”