Dash Cam Privacy Concerns

While extremely popular in Asia, to the point where new cars are often built with more than one, dash cams, or car cameras, have somehow remained relatively unpopular in the North American market. This is unusual in a way because here in the US, we do drive a lot more  than, say, in Taiwan or Korea (they have more advanced public transportation systems), with a greater chance that we'd get into situations where a dash cam would come in handy.

 

 

What could be the reasons?

Based on our research, aside from the difficulty in installing one by yourself, privacy concerns seem to be a big one. What privacy concerns, you ask? Well, users are worried that the footage (which may or may not include audio recordings, depending on the settings) may fall into the wrong hands and lead to personal data leaks.

So, are the privacy concerns valid?

 

Should You Be Concerned about Data Privacy When Using a Dash Cam?

The answer is no, at least not by themselves. Most dash cams on the market don't have direct access to the internet. While a large portion of them do come with Wi-Fi built-in, the connection is strictly to your phone and is only for the purpose of controlling the dash cam and for viewing/downloading videos without having to take out the MicroSD memory card.

The only ways someone else can access your videos would be 1) through the internet on your phone after you've downloaded the videos, and 2) by stealing your memory card. In reality, unless you're involved in an accident or you'd like to share your videos, there's really no need to connect your phone to the dash cam or take the MicroSD card out. The MicroSD memory card should never be full because all dash cams feature "loop record" – new footage automatically overwrites the old ones when the memory space gets close to its capacity, so you really don't need to take the SD card out either.

On the other hand, in the case where you do need to access your videos, you simply have to NOT lose the memory card physically, and you'll be able to prevent your data from leaking.

Furthermore, audio recording can easily be toggled on/off on most of the dashcams in case you don’t want your personal conversations be heard by anyone else.

 

Is It Worth It to Get a Dash Cam?

 

Now that privacy concerns are out of the way, is it REALLY worth it to get a dash cam and go through the trouble of installing it? Hmm… let's put it in a different way.

Is it worth spending $100-$150 on a dashcam to prevent spending $1,000+ fighting lawsuits that clearly weren't even your fault?

If you’re a carshare driver, is it worth sacrificing a little bit of privacy to install a dual view dashcam to prevent a customer/passenger from scamming you and getting you fired?

Is it worth spending the 10-20 minutes on installing a dashcam to prevent spending months or even years dealing with possible insurance scams?

We'll leave you to answer that.

 

Our suggestion? Eliminate any chance of yourself looking back thinking "should have" or "would have." Take the necessary measures to protect yourself and your family.

Driver safer, today.