Toronto, Ontario — Representatives from Autel say the company has shored up its defenses against unwanted data collection through a newly released EULA, announced at a Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting last week.
Acting on concerns raised at an April CIC meeting about the potential for Autel customer data to be lifted from its tools by foreign governments, the automotive diagnostics developer has developed a new end user license agreement (EULA) to govern its products and ensure customer data remains secure.
“Your use of an Autel device or download of the software update will be deemed as your acceptance of the constraints mentioned hereunder…Autel will not collect, process or use any other personal information,” reads an excerpt from the agreement.
Senior product and operations manager of Autel’s North American operations, Paul Marshall clarified to Repairer Driven News last Thursday that the previous agreement didn’t technically qualify as a proper EULA.
“It was something thrown together many years ago,” said Marshall.
“Since our tools have always been kind of standalone, we’ve never had to worry about data because we didn’t really get any data from the tools. It was never an issue. And then when we started doing more data-oriented projects like Remote Expert, things like that, we were like, ‘Yeah, it’s time. We need to go through all our legal documents.’”
He also assured that Autel itself only collects vehicle data, such as make and model and scan data, as well as basic account data. Payment data, on the other hand, is not collected.
Marshall also addressed other concerns expressed in April’s meeting, such as one which claimed that Autel’s EULA was difficult, if not impossible to access.
“It was not malicious at all,” Marshall said in response. “…Sometimes you get a reputation that is unwarranted but sometimes you have to schlep it along with you. We understand why it was pointed out and we appreciate it. Sometimes it gets a little too emphasized on where our headquarters is located and it hurts sometimes.”
