Nissan Fig Leaf? Blogger Raises Privacy Concern

Does Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric vehicle leave a trail of digital bread crumbs?

A U.S.-based blogger on SeattleWireless.net who says he owns a Leaf claims that the car’s telematic system automatically sends pinpoint data on the car’s location to any third-party RSS feed to which drivers subscribe. The Japanese automaker is “looking into the matter,” according to a company spokesman in Tokyo, who would not confirm or deny the claim.

Amid growing concerns about violations of privacy via the web, the matter has ricocheted through social media such as Twitter since the post was published on Sunday evening in the U.S. (Monday morning in Asia.)

The alleged glitch involves the apparent disclosure of data from Nissan’s Carwings system, which is an optional subscription-based service that works off the factory-installed GPS navigation system, providing information about the vehicle’s position, including latitude and longitude, direction, destination and speed via a GSM mobile phone connection.

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