BYD cuts references to 'China' and 'surveillance' from its privacy policy
The original policy gave the company almost unlimited powers to collect data on its Australian vehicle owners and broad discretion on how this could be disclosed.
Electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has removed all references to China and surveillance from its Australian privacy policy, just days after they were questioned by investigative news program Four Corners. The original policy gave the company extensive powers to collect data on Australian vehicle owners and allowed for broad disclosure of that data, including through surveillance.
This raised serious concerns about BYD's data practices, according to privacy law expert Katharine Kemp from UNSW. BYD, which is challenging Toyota for the title of Australia's top car brand, has been selling vehicles in Australia since 2022 and is on track to sell nearly 100,000 cars this year. After Four Corners inquired about the privacy policy, BYD released a revised version within an hour and sixteen minutes, removing all mentions of China and surveillance.
However, the new policy still states that data collected from Australian vehicles could be transferred to other countries, including China, if required by applicable data protection laws. Despite Australia's Privacy Act allowing for such data transfers to China, BYD claimed that Chinese authorities have no access to Australian data.
Privacy expert Kemp criticized BYD's new policy, stating that many privacy policies do not provide adequate protections and that the Privacy Act needs significant updates to address the challenges posed by emerging technologies like connected vehicles.
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