Imagine if that were true. We’ve seen it on TV and movies but really think about how you would react if you noticed that someone were behind you while driving. You saw them again the next day. You go shopping, they’re there. Pick the kids up at school, there they are. Frightening.
The Internet
Heard of it?
The internet has enriched so many lives. We have Facebook, Instagram and unlimited data plans that allow us to stay connected every second of the day.
Even our cars are connected. Mine will tell an app on my phone how many miles I’ve driven, what my gas mileage is, and how my habits compare to all the other users.
Making Criminal’s Lives Easier
Arguably no one group has benefitted more from the internet than criminals.
Here is a chart of the annual number of cybercrime complaints at the ic3.gov website (from statista). And lots more data here.
But we don’t need a chart to tell us this. We get daily phishing calls, text messages, emails. And these are getting better and better at fooling us.
I volunteer as a fraud specialist, helping folks who have been victims of fraud. A guy I spoke to last week couldn’t believe that the caller scammed him. The caller was a church-going man like him.
In the early days, criminals used Facebook to learn about us. See that we’re in Hawaii on the beach? Great time for a break-in.
But criminals have evolved.
The Dark Web
This is from an article here.
So, the dark web is an anonymous place where criminals do business, transacting in stolen information. Pretty scary.
Data Brokers
A data broker is much different. These are large companies that: (from wikipedia)
Here’s some info from the same wikipedia article.
The more I read, the more the line between legitimate business (data broker) and criminal enterprise (dark web) blurs.
Where Do They Get This Info?
I read an article years ago (and didn’t bookmark it, damn) about the rise of poorly paid restaurant workers and customer service operators who were supplementing their income by selling information (mostly credit card data) to criminals for aggregation and resale on the dark web.
But hacking, data breaches and good old fashion theft contribute to the vast stores of data available on the dark web.
To me, the data brokers are much scarier. Here are a couple examples.
A while back, I posted (oddly in my Happy Friday post) that one of the biggest data brokers and most trusted companies, Equifax, was sharing customer data. My post was in reaction to a clark.com article.
Equifax gathers our loan and card data and provides info to lenders when we apply for a loan. It tells the lenders what our credit levels and repayment history look like so they can determine whether to lend us money or give us a credit card.
We should trust them right?
Well it turns out they are a data broker. They sell our info. We don’t even need to agree to this. Frightening.
Then there are the ones that gain our consent through small print. I wrote about how apps like Gasbuddy, that finds us cheap prices at the pump, were watching us as we drove and then selling info about our driving habits to our insurance company.
GM
Not to be left out, GM joined the fracas recently. Read FTC bans General Motors from selling driver data for five years.
Subaru
And not to be outdone, Subaru joined in as well.
You can read more here.
Wrap-Up
So yes. Someone is definitely following you. Unless your car was built in the prior century, it is probably tracking you and telling your manufacturer, who is telling a data broker, who is selling this info to anyone with a credit card, legitimate or otherwise (a nice way of saying criminals).
And even if the manufacturer decides to forego the windfall it could receive for ratting you out, chances are that hackers will get ahold of your info anyway.
And even when you’re not in your car, are you sure that every app on your phone is safe?
Gasbuddy seemed like a safe choice. Who knew it was secretly (OK, not secret, it was clearly stated on page 162 of the agreement that you can view on your phone with a NASA grade magnifying glass) ratting us out to our insurance company?
What about other apps?
This post is another in my tinfoil hat series for 2025. Ha Ha, but we need to be concerned. Higher rates because insurance companies are watching us is a bummer and seems like it should be illegal, but criminals being able to track us and buy info about us from legitimate and illegitimate sources is frightening and dangerous.
What Can We Do?
Lock down your data. Now!
I wrote about locking down your data at your internet provider here.
Here are some tip for creating a security freeze and monitoring your credit activity.
For advanced reading, search on protect-wealth. I’ve written a lot about this because we work hard to grow our wealth and it is unfortunate that it is so easy for criminals to get their hands on it. There are steps we can take to protect ourselves, but many don’t.
But the biggest thing we can do is to start getting curious about every app on our phones, tablets and computers, and every security setting on our cars, devices and accounts.
It sounds like a lot, but I started with my internet provider and was horrified to see what I had opted into by default.
Yesterday I went through my car. It has a menu of security settings. I turned off the one that provided trip data to BMW so they could show me the neat chart on my phone. I can live without this.
I also turned off the option to send service data. I don’t want BMW to know when my car thinks it needs service. I don’t want them to call me. When the warning light goes on, I’ll decide.
Assume You Don’t Need It
I had always left data sharing options turned on because the manufacturer knows best and because there is probably some neat feature that I’ll miss if I turn it off.
I’ve recently gone the other way. I turn everything off and when it starts to hurt, I selectively turn bits of data sharing back on.
It was cool that when I go in my car on Saturday morning it suggested that I wanted directions to Starbucks in Worcester. It knew that I met Rich for coffee every Saturday. Feels like my car really knows me.
But think about it. That’s creepy. My car knows where I’m going and can anticipate my next move. Who is my car telling?
Be careful out there.