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144 points herbertl | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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autoexec ◴[] No.43274822[source]
That name "ID. EVERY1" makes me wonder if it's affordable due to massive amounts of personal data being collected and sold about drivers and passengers.

It'd be a bold move after the lawsuits and data breeches Volkswagen has faced.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/customer-data...

https://carbuzz.com/news/automakers-spying-on-consumers-decl...

https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/volkswagen-fined-eur-...

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mattmaroon ◴[] No.43274981[source]
No. Your data isn't worth that much.

Meta has 3 billion daily users across products and brings in $165 billion. Their entire business is your data and they get about $55 a year off of selling yours. (I picked them because they have little revenue other than ads, though even then, not all of their ads have anything to do with your data, but I'm estimating in your favor and calling 100% of their revenue a result of collecting your data, because they're probably the closest to it at very large scale.)

So even if a car company was as good at collecting and monetizing your data as Meta, it couldn't meaningfully dent the price of a car. It couldn't even charge the batteries for a week. Data is cheap and highly scalable, cars are neither.

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1. autoexec ◴[] No.43275484[source]
> No. Your data isn't worth that much.

There's a multi-billion dollar a year industry around the buying and selling of it. Every single company you've ever interacted with in any way is going out of their way to collect and store every scrap of your data they can get their hands on and you can bet that it isn't because it isn't worth much. It's worth a lot.

The data collection isn't even about ads. Ads are what they want you think it's for because nobody cares about which ads they see. They'll sometimes sell your data to advertisers, they will even use it for advertising themselves, but the data being collected about you is being used for all kinds of things. It's increasingly used to set the prices you pay, the policies companies hold you to, even how long they leave you on hold when you call them.

Car companies in particular want to sell your data to insurance companies who will jack up your rates depending on where, when, and how you drive. Your location data is highly valuable for all kinds of reasons and where you drive to, when, how often, and how long you stay there can tell them a lot. Car companies are selling our location data to police departments and federal agencies. Some cars are even collecting video and audio of everything that happens in and around the cars.

A car is a one time purchase. Until recently they got your money once and had to wait until you got another car to make money off of you. By collecting your data and using it against you, or selling that data (often as a subscription service) for others to use against you, it means that you never really stop paying for the car. You'll pay again and again for as long as you have the car.

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2. mattmaroon ◴[] No.43279511[source]
Right, as I said, it’s highly scalable. The overall industry is big but the value of any one person’s data isn’t.

Your location data is already being sold by your phone provider and various apps you use. They’ve got way more than your car ever will. Facebook knows more about your location than your car ever could if you use their apps, and again, they get on the order of a few tens of dollars a year from it. And they own their own ad network.

Cars start at over $25k, your data isn’t worth a meaningful percent of that. It’s simple numeracy.