The Federal Communications Commission is pressing automakers and wireless service providers to say how they are protecting victims of domestic violence from being stalked by their abusers through the connected devices in their cars.

The FCC this week sent letters to nine of the largest car manufacturers asking them to detail the connectivity options they have or plan to have installed in their automobiles – from connected apps or devices that allow others to track the vehicles’ locations or to remotely access or control such features as the vehicle’s lights, horns, and air conditioning.

The agency also is asking for information about how they retain, share, or sell a driver’s geolocation data that is collected by connected apps and devices in the vehicles.

Similarly, the FCC sent letters to the country’s top three wireless service providers – Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile – asking about connectivity options they make for cars, location-tracking apps and devices, and the ability for the driver to call a SOS or emergency service. The agency also wants the carriers to describe how they comply with the Safe Connections Act, which Congress passed in 2022 to protect domestic abuse survivors and that the FCC is implementing.

Reports Highlighting the Problem

The letters come in the wake of several reports from news organizations like The New York Times and Reuters detailing how abusers can use data gleaned from increasingly connected vehicles to locate and stalk their victims. Issues like multi-line shared mobile service contracts “present unique challenges for survivors of domestic violence seeking to maintain essential connectivity while distancing themselves from their abusers,” the FCC wrote in November 2023 when announcing new rules in line with the Safe Connections Act.

“Such plans can allow the account holder (who may be the abuser) to monitor a survivor’s calls and text messages, including to domestic abuse hotlines or other lines of support, and the precise location of the device that the survivor uses,” the agency wrote. “It can sometimes be difficult for a survivor to separate a mobile service line (and associated device) from a shared mobile service plan, particularly when that shared plan is controlled by the abuser.”

In addition, it may be difficult for a domestic violence survivor often find it hard to afford to adopt a communications service of their own or leave a family plan controlled by the abuser.

“No survivor of domestic violence and abuse should have to choose between giving up their car and allowing themselves to be stalked and harmed by those who can access its data and connectivity,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement announcing the letters to the automakers and service providers. “We must do everything we can to help survivors stay safe. We need to work with auto and wireless industry leaders to find solutions.”

Turning to Automakers and Service Providers

This includes getting details about the relationships between automakers and wireless carriers, the technologies that are making their way into connected vehicles, and steps each are making to ensure that they are complying with the Safe Connections Act, which includes being able to separate lines in shared mobile service contracts, giving clear requirements for how service providers handle requests to separate lines, and information carriers must providers must give to abuse survivors when granting the lines separation.

“Cars today are sometimes called ‘smartphones on wheels,’” Rosenworcel wrote in the letters to the companies. “This new level of connectivity raises questions about whether car manufacturers and the connectivity they are facilitating in cars may be ‘covered providers’ under the Safe Connections Act, which was specifically enacted to address where ‘perpetrators of violence and abuse . . . increasingly use technological and communications tools to exercise control over, monitor, and abuse their victims.’”

When outlining the new rules adopted as required by the new law, the FCC outlined the extent of the problem of domestic abuse in the United States, noting that more than one in three women and one in four men suffer some form of such abuse. Every year, 12 million people in the United States experience domestic violence.

“Modern cars offer a range of features that improve convenience for drivers, like assistance locating a car in a parking lot, turning a car on remotely, and connecting with first responders in an emergency without a phone,” Rosenworcel wrote in the letters. “But … these features rely on wireless connectivity and location data that in the wrong hands can be used to harm partners in abusive relationships in a number of ways.”

An Ongoing Issue

Safety Net, a project of The National Network to End Domestic Violence that focuses on the intersection of technology and domestic abuse, outlines the threats connected cars present to survivors and steps to improve their safety and privacy.

“Newer cars now run with computer systems, and may even be connected to the internet,” the project wrote. “In addition, there are older techniques used to stalk or track vehicles that are still used today. When someone else monitors the location of a car, or can control features like volume, speed, alarms, or locks, this can be a risk for survivors.”

The Safe Connections Act was created to “ensure survivors can separate from abusers without losing independent access to their mobile service plan,” the FCC wrote when announcing the new rules.

“Congress recognized that communications services, such as through phones, are lifelines for survivors of domestic violence and abuse, and that a phone is a gateway to building a new life, away from harm,” Rosenworcel wrote, adding that the issue of separating phone lines was the first step in implementing the order.