"... Rivian will integrate Alexa into its electric pickup and SUV"

[Jehorton]

Just basic privacy and security. Your question could be asked of anyone who has window coverings in their home.

It was a joke.

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[52371]

Heh, there are few things that I'd like to keep to myself. For me this vehicle will be about unplugging (no pun intended). Believe me, I know just how hard it is to keep your data private. I'm not looking for a perfect privacy footprint, there is just something about having a microphone on me at all times that I don't care for. It's one thing to have my direct actions on a website tracked, or the location of my vehicle, it is a completely different thing to have a company monitoring and recording my physical body, my actions, my words, at all times.



It may be possible to monitor the modem traffic to confirm that alexa is not sending packets.

What I would really like is a way to disable or choose what data the vehicle collects. One thing that bothers me is when a company doesn't give you a choice on how you interact with the product.

I recommend this video by Oliver Thorne on the subject of privacy:

A Rivian rep informed me today that owners will have granular control over the Alexa functionality, including ability to turn off the service completely.

 

[Babbuino]

A Rivian rep informed me today that owners will have granular control over the Alexa functionality, including ability to turn off the service completely.

Great info!

 

[photontorque]

I echo the points of @Hexijin in post #44. I don't want to be naive about the data collection that already happens by virtue of using a cell phone and/or an internet connection. But I do what I can to reduce the data-scraping about me. No social media (unless you count Rivian forums!), no apps on the phone, duck-duck-go . . . it doesn't stop everything, but it stems the tide.

Plus, there's the overall principal of data collection. I think it is not just inappropriate, but downright weird, and sliding into creepy, that companies assume the increasing connectedness of the world mean that they can harvest more and more personal things about us. It is astonishing to me that there hasn't been a broad and vocal societal outcry over this. I hope it is a matter of time before legislation overtakes these obscene data-collection practices of companies.

What about Rivian? My interpretation of their outreach is that Rivian is pitching themselves as a do-good company: they want to make a profit of course, but are doing so in a way that respects people, the environment, etc. Which is great! I hope it's true! One of the many ways in which they could be a leader is in regards to data collection: work with their customers to provide options. Let users opt in for different degrees of data collection, rather than collect info by default. Or collect data/telemetry (speeds, temperatures, voltages, etc.) that aren't tagged to a location or vehicle.

Let's not forget that Rivian data are rich with personally identifiable information, and many high-profile data breaches of banks, credit-card companies, etc. show that it's just a matter of interest and time before some nefarious actor can get access to such information if there is a benefit to do so. If the only thing they can access are, e.g. battery voltages and temperatures that's a much different thing than knowing everywhere you go in your vehicle, when that happens, etc.

Rivian can excel where google failed. Remember google's "don't be evil"? That crashed and burned. I hope Rivian doesn't follow that same trajectory.

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