First, huge respect to @Defendher for making their position and demands clear to JLR, and for setting an example for others here in our community, too. It's a short, clear, perfectly polite but perfectly definitive letter that others might use as an example.

No, I have not received any response, including even a receipt acknowledgement, from either JLR or the dealer who sold me the car. It would be useful if others posted any responses, or lack thereof, here too.

I've begun researching the contact information for JLR's top management in the U.S., as a similarly-polite but similarly-firm letter sent to a few might gain an actual response.

Thanks again to @Defendher for their efforts towards the cause of freedom!

 

First off, I am firmly in the privacy camp. Agree with everything here.

What proof does anyone have that JLR is selling data to 3rd parties? This thread inspired me to do some diligence. And - Nothing in either of these attached 2 documents -- Incontrol T&C or single sign on T&C (both of which are what you agree to when using incontrol) -- indicates JLR shares telemetry data with 3rd parties. I also checked my paperwork from when I purchased my Defender, I did not sign any T&C that agreed to data sharing. So they have not legally created the mechanism to share driving data with any 3rd party that I can find.

So -- don't want JLR to collect information about you? Do not sign into incontrol and do not use the mobile app. (sucks because that is the remote start)

Not defending JLR overlords, but I don't think this letter writing is going to get you anywhere, because... it appears the company is not sharing data with any 3rd party .... and that is what they probably internally believe. And when we all signed up for Incontrol, we already agreed to having JLR be able to collect certain data about your vehicle.

However, I do not see a legal mechanism they have created to share that data with any third parties. Am I missing it?

As for @Zondar post that started the thread - Carfax gets basic reporting from some but not all dealerships. This is a dealership issue, not a JLR or LRNA issue.

Anyway -- doubtful that exact mileage from telemetry was shared and see no evidence of this anywhere here or elsewhere. Probably, Carfax had the mileage # as it was estimated based on either a last service visit or an in service date and mileage -- and they got lucky that it was about what you have on your car. Can you paste that email here so we can see?

Re: Carfax. I do strongly object to dealers sharing information even with Carfax. Carfax is a litany of privacy violations and has been for 20 years. I have gotten in quite the fight about this with a (Porsche) dealer recently. Caused a mileage discrepancy nightmare on a car once when a dealer reported incorrect mileage due to clerical error 2 months before a car went up on Bring A Trailer .... Another instance. I had a front lip removed & repainted at a body shop on a 911. Body shop reported it to Carfax because "that's their policy". I had to file a claim with Carfax to get it removed. It is not "minor accident damage", it's a customer pay repaint of a sacrificial front lip.

Anyway - I agree 110% with you guys / gals on all this. Just not seeing the evidence of data being sold to 3rd parties. I could of course be wrong.

 

Funny everybody's was going on about radar detectors. Back I the late 80's, when I was still playing in the world of strange warfare. There was an issue with simple ZU-23 quad anti-aircraft guns. A simple trailer mounted, but radar assisted unit. Turned out to be quite deadly and most of our inexplicably expensive radar detection gear didn't seem to work. So a buddy and I cobbled together 5 Escort systems in a circular array of just the antennas and the boxes remotely mounted. With some clever software based on base 12 math, we could discern the bearing within ½°. Even our high end fighter aircraft, like the F-14 crews where taking Fuzzbusters along in the cockpit, since the stuff they gave us was, well, useless heavy boxes. No, the gov didn't buy our clever mod. Other people thought it was clever. It was not until the mid-90's that pilots stopped taking Fuzzbusters along. There was kind of a ceremony when the gov finally got the stupidly expensive garbage to actually work and give you a valid warning.

So don't discount the utility of small off the shelf radar detectors. Better minds than you think designed them.

What you should be worried about is: License plate readers and facial recognition.

 

Great points @Dogpilot License reader tech is already out there and in use in several countries around the world. Same with facial recognition. I am sure they are both in use in the US as well, except that we don't know that yet.

 

It is all over, widely used in airports now, particularly if you cross borders. Plate reading tech is so stupidly simple it can be installed in any parking lot, any road. Already have cameras at most intersections. Our Supreme Court ruled long ago we have no expectation of privacy outdoors. All this makes those simple murders my wife likes so much on English TV a thing of the past. Yes the day of "Minority Report" is quickly becoming true. Kind of why, personally, I don't care about the car giving away my secrets. All that data can be acquired and is being acquired legally and there is not a thing you can do about it. I think the advertising in my Puddle Lights is far more intrusive, aside from being beyond asinine.

 

I bought 2 Defenders last year, 2 different dealers. On one, I get a CARFAX message probably every three months, usually telling me I need service. Mileage is way off so I’m pretty sure there is no direct to truck. They may get update info from dealer. Nothing from other dealer. Agree with above, appears to be dealer issue not JLR.

 

You need to read the "privacy" policy that is adhered when signing up for in-control. Amongst other things, you will be physically tracked, and your info, including "how you drive your vehicle" such as your average speed, will be shared with "partners" for marketing, etc. It's available here:

JLR privacy policy

My driving information such as the exact mileage I've driven could ONLY have been gotten over the air by JLR's mothership. The dealer, etc., has not touched the truck since I received it, and they would not have the ability to track me on their own anyway.

However, a week or so after I bought the car, I received a creepy email from JLR explaining that "my" password had been set or changed by my request or by an "authorized" party. I had no account with them in the first place, and made no such request and gave no such authorization. I suspect that, when I didn't sign up, the dealer simply signed me up on their own. This kind of thing was reported in the Times expose as a sleazy but semi-common industry practice.

 

Welp - You're right. I hadn't seen that privacy policy.

I do turn off location tracking / journeys in the Incontrol app.

This is the problematic phrase and I agree this should be able to be deactivated. Full stop.
with our trusted business partners to provide you with information about goods and services;

Ugh

 

You mean all 692 of them?

 

Go on. Where'd you find this. Link?