In response to five class-action lawsuits, a Washington appeals court has decided that Honda and several other automakers did nothing wrong by storing text messages and call records from connected smartphones.
Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors were all facing charges in separate but related class-action suits that all claimed they violated Washington state privacy laws. The cases were all dismissed in court earlier this year, and the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decided this week they weren’t going to reopen the cases to further litigation.
The Circuit judges hearing the case lumped all of them together because “the factual background and legal issues are virtually identical,” and dismissed the appeal not because the automakers hadn’t done anything wrong, but rather because the claims didn’t meet the Washington Privacy Act’s (WPA) statutory injury requirements.
I’m hoping at some point in the future this gets challenged again and gets the support from groups like the EFF. I guess I have another reason to try to use older car models…