NHTSA Right to Take Privacy, Security Into Account in Rules for Vehicle Safety Systems, FTC Says

The FTC commended the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for taking privacy and security concerns into account in a rulemaking on vehicle-to-vehicle communication capability for passenger cars and light trucks, in comments filed at NHTSA. In February, following extensive testing, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it was moving forward on vehicle-to-vehicle warning systems as part “the next generation” of auto safety improvements (http://1.usa.gov/1bkqG1L). The rulemaking has been of concern to the telecom industry because the spectrum band automakers will use, the 5.850-5.925 GHz band, is adjacent to a band targeted by the FCC for unlicensed use on a secondary basis (see 1409050030). The FTC said it supports “implementation of a deliberative, process-based approach to address privacy and security risks.” NHTSA appears ready to “ensure that the V2V system will contain multiple technical, physical, and organizational controls to minimize privacy risks, including the likelihood of vehicle tracking by commercial entities,” the FTC said (http://1.usa.gov/1D7RLCE). “The Commission appreciates NHTSA’s explanation of the substantial steps it took as part of its interim privacy impact assessment, and looks forward to reviewing the results of the final assessment.” NHTSA also appears to have the designed the system in a way that “limits the amount of data collected and stored to that which serves its intended safety purposes,” FTC said. “NHTSA’s attention to potential security issues is equally thorough and demonstrates a clear commitment to creating both a functional and secure communications system based on research efforts over more than a decade.” CTIA's comments said NHTSA lacks statutory authority to adopt Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for mobile devices, apps or software (http://bit.ly/1xiapWG). The comments were filed in docket NHTSA-2014-0022.