Advocates, Wireless and Auto Industries Welcome FCC Proposal for Connected Cars

Advocates for survivors of domestic violence, CTIA and the automotive industry welcomed an FCC initiative assisting survivors in accessing safe and affordable connected car services (see 2404230021). CTIA supported the proposed rules and told the FCC that wireless providers are "working towards timely and successful implementation" of the Safe Connections Act. Filings were posted through Friday in docket 22-238.

CTIA urged that the commission consider the role wireless providers play in "the consumer-facing aspects of those connected car services," which are typically limited to providing wholesale connectivity to car manufacturers and in-vehicle Wi-Fi access. CTIA also noted that carriers have already implemented line separation processes and begun processing separation requests.

The National Network to End Domestic Violence and National Domestic Violence Hotline in joint comments asked that FCC "convene experts to further advise on many of the complex issues inherent in connected cars" as cases of technology misuse emerge. Survivors should be able to access and delete their personal information in their connected car services, the groups said. They add that it's "essential to empower survivors with the ability to promptly delete any locally collected data within their vehicles and information transmitted to app developers’ or vehicle manufacturers’ servers."

The FCC "must understand the myriad ways connected car technology can be used against domestic abuse survivors and the specific challenges that certain groups of domestic abuse survivors face," said Free Press. The group said that cars "provide economic and physical liberation for domestic abuse survivors," but connected car technology "can be wielded by abusive partners to perpetuate their control" through location tracking and remote control. A survivor's ability to lock a car door would be "rendered useless if an abuser could simply unlock a car with remote control," Free Press said. The group noted the FCC also "has an opportunity to make advancements in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" by addressing the needs of survivors from marginalized communities.

"Safety is a cornerstone of the automotive industry and serves as a driving factor in automotive innovation and design," said the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The group cited proposed legislation that would apply to automotive original equipment manufacturers to prevent misuse of connected car services and urged the FCC to support the legislative proposal "rather than attempt to contort" the Safe Connections Act "in a manner that would allow the agency to regulate connected vehicle services." The proposal, which would require that automakers terminate or disable a covered service account if a survivor requests it, would be offered at no cost.

The FCC should take a "flexible approach" addressing how a survivor can benefit from the protections in the proposed rules, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Public Knowledge said in joint comments. "There is not a singular way to safely escape from an abusive relationship," they said, adding that the commission shouldn't "intentionally or unintentionally create one."

"Intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be a significant public health problem in the US," said the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The group noted that women "experience 4.8 million incidents of physical or sexual assault" annually in the U.S. and asked the FCC to "consider other sources of shared data that may be misused," including "smartphone applications related to a person's reproductive health."