FTC Issues Report Following Recent Connected Cars Privacy Workshop

On January 10, the FTC issued a report summarizing the themes and key takeaways from a recent workshop it jointly hosted with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on privacy and security issues related to connected and autonomous cars.

The report – styled a "Staff Perspective" – noted several important themes that emerged from the joint workshop:

• Companies "throughout the connected car ecosystem" will collect data from vehicles, including car manufacturers, component manufacturers, third-party component manufacturers, and auto insurance companies.
• The data collected from vehicles will include not only aggregate and non-sensitive data but also "sensitive personal data" about the occupants of vehicles, including "fingerprint and iris pattern" data used for authentication purposes.