Submitted via IRC for FatPhil
Mercedes has sparked a privacy row by admitting it spies on drivers with tracking devices covertly installed in its cars. The secret sensors, fitted to all new and used motors sold by the firm's dealers, pinpoint the vehicle's exact location.
The firm sold more than 170,000 new cars in Britain alone last year. Mercedes will not say how long it has used the sensors. And it insists they are only activated in "extreme circumstances" — when finance customers have defaulted on their payments.
But it admits sharing car owner information and vehicle location details with third-party bailiffs and recovery firms who repossess the cars.
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/9756250/mercedes-spies-drivers-tracking-devices/
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3196
British publication The Sun, a sometimes terrible and occasionally entertaining tabloid across the pond, is reporting that concerns are boiling among human rights groups, former government ministers, and some legal experts about Mercedes-Benz using vehicle location data to track down customers who default on their finance program payments.
Source: https://jalopnik.com/brits-are-pissed-about-mercedes-benz-tracking-down-cust-1837449509
See also:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 23 2019, @11:00PM
I might add, that there are differences between leasing, financing, and buying outright.
If you lease, well.. the manufacturer still owns the car! Completely! That is an entirely different beast. Is it wrong for me to have GPS in my car, and let you borrow it for a week? Or, if I tell you to give me $50 bucks, you borrow it, and I tell you about it?
Financing is more grey area, because it is 100% your car, but they have a lean on it. Different beast.