Car Manufacturers Spying On Car Owners

A new government report shows that major automakers have been using on-board navigation systems to track where drivers travel.

The report also says that car owners cannot demand the information be destroyed by the car manufacturers.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday that major automakers all had different policies regarding data collection but that every major automaker collected data.

The report included Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

Automakers reportedly used the data to provide real time traffic information to navigation systems and to provide information about nearby restaurants or gas stations. While the companies reportedly took steps to protect privacy of users, and reportedly did not sell the information, there was no real limits to what the companies could do with the information.

The study also tracked GPS manufacturers Garmin and TomTom with app developers Google Maps and Telenav.

None of the companies would tell the GAO how long the data was stored on their servers. However, sources inside the companies say most of them only keep the information for 24 hours.