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BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

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61–70 of 351 posts

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#61
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK is no longer under the GDPR right?

It is until the end of the 2020 transition period. Thereafter it is not, but the Government intends to introduce similar privacy legislation. > The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), which currently supplements and tailors the GDPR within the UK, will continue to apply. > The provisions of the GDPR will be incorporated directly into UK law from the end of the transition period, to sit alongside the DPA 2018. https:…

I know it’s bad form to ask, but I’m curious why this is being downvoted. It’s factually correct so far as I can tell.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#62
post #49

In my circle (relatively young and educated people in a 2nd world country) Tesla has completely supplanted BMW et al as 'the exclusive car brand'.

Maybe your country is moving up the food chain. In my eastern-European country it seems like every third car is an old BMW.

Exactly - BMW is the has-been German brand, that you can buy as a 10-20 year old import. It holds no cachet and is harder to maintain and less fuel efficient than other brands with similar features.

Tesla is the brand that people aspire to own, that people snap their eyes towards on the street. In small towns, all of the owners of Teslas are known and prestigious individuals.

Functionally though - Teslas are too big and too fast for old European cities. The Renault Zoe seems to sell well but is still very expensive for mass adoption.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#63
post #6

Would this not be misuse of PII? You own a particular vehicle registration mark as much as you own a particular phone number, and both can reasonably be used to identify an individual (motor database verus telephone database).

UK is no longer under the GDPR right?

[deleted]

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

License plate is I guess PII. Something public doesn't stop it to be PII, like IP addresses.

I don't think the plate itself is PII, like "158.32.44.25" isn't PII. Tying that to a person is what's PII.

A personal IP address is PII. The same for a license plate. At least under GDPR.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#65

In my circle (relatively young and educated people in a 2nd world country) Tesla has completely supplanted BMW et al as 'the exclusive car brand'.

Fads come and go. The minivan was once in. SUVs were next. The prius is in... Who knows what will be next.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#66

Either BMW changed their mind or overstated what they’re doing, because they are on-record contradicting this story: https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/bmw-targeted-warra... BMW has told Motoring Research its targeted billboard warranty adverts – which are claimed to use number plate registration technology to tailor public adverts to BMW drivers – do not actually draw upon vehicle warranty status. Rather, onl…

This is possible now that Brexit has happened. Whether the UK will need to comply with GDPR or not is dependent on the deal Boris strikes with the EU, if indeed he ever does.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be interesting to see stats on aggressive driving by brand. My guess is that BMW drivers would be well near the most aggressive on the list.

Such a study exists for Finland : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ijop.12642 You may find the full article on some Russian mirror website. I don't know whether HN allows us to name it.

There was something similar in the UK. The upshot was be careful if you are crossing the road when a BMW is nearby.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

License plate is I guess PII. Something public doesn't stop it to be PII, like IP addresses.

I don't think the plate itself is PII, like "158.32.44.25" isn't PII. Tying that to a person is what's PII.

In Europe/UK an IP is PII. This link explains it: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio...

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#69
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they will argue that it doesn't violate laws simply because: the licence plate on your car is public knowledge, they are allowed to scan it with a camera, and since they provide warranty on BMW cars, they own the database that says if that specific car is covered or not. They don't even need to access any of your private information to do this, the two pieces needed are either public(the licence plate) or t…

Just because you're crossing public data with data you own does not mean you are not breaking the law.

Ok, but then I'm genuienly curious - which laws are being broken? Licence plates in the UK can be scanned by automated machines owned by private companies, that's been established many times before. To request the owner data from the DVLA you need their permission - but that's not necessary here, BMW doesn't need to know anything about the owner, so no such request would be made to the DVLA.

Then on the other side, they have a database of cars that they sold and which are still under warranty - again, nothing about owners, none of the silo'ed personal information needs to be accessed at all. If the car is not on the "warranty==true" list, then they show the ad. I assume the ad doesn't display anything like "hey john smith, your warranty is expired!".

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#70
post #35
post #6

Would this not be misuse of PII? You own a particular vehicle registration mark as much as you own a particular phone number, and both can reasonably be used to identify an individual (motor database verus telephone database).

You probably waived through all of that on GDPR consent page of your BMW app.

Following GDPR it should be possible possible for users to revoke a given consent.
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