The Impact of Internet Privacy Regulation on the U.S. Mobility Industry: Nuisance or Economic Catalyst?

Internet privacy regulation has an enormous potential to impact the automotive industry financially. Automotive companies rely on Internet data collection to market directly to consumers successfully, advertise merchandise and services, and expedite a number of internal operations. Government legislation would inevitably require significant changes in these data collection methods and consequently produce large compliance costs. On the other hand, consumer distrust and business loss to the more stringently regulated European Union can also produce significant costs, if Internet privacy regulation is not more effectively enforced. The current method of enforcement, self-regulation, has been highly criticized despite considerable improvement from industry. Many privacy advocates are actively seeking legislation to remedy the problem. This paper recommends the automotive industry play a more active role in addressing Internet privacy concerns by improving self-regulation enforcement and implementing legislation if an adequate level of online privacy can not be achieved within the next year.