Happy Monday, friends! We’re off to a great week with today’s brain teaser. The internet is stumped, but I know you’ll figure it out. What do you see once in a year, twice in a week but only twice in forever? You’ll find the answer at the end, along with my run-in with ChatGPT.

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So you removed all the shady apps from your phone. You adjusted the privacy settings on your kid's smart toys. Heck, you even stopped Alexa from saving your recorded conversations. You're all set, right? Just wait until you get into your car.

Today’s cars are an absolute trainwreck when it comes to privacy. Mozilla recently researched 25 top car brands under their *Privacy Not Included warning-label project. Not a single vehicle passed the test, making cars Mozilla's worst category researched to date.

Here's the scoop on what they uncovered, along with a couple of steps you can take to make a difference.

🎧 Btw, I interviewed super-smart Jen Caltrider from Mozilla. Watch our convo here on YouTube.

A fail of epic proportions

Out of the 25 car brands studied, these companies received at least four out of five of Mozilla's privacy red flags:

• Tesla, Nissan, Hyundai, Cadillac, GMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Kia, Acura, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Lincoln, Ford, Lexus, Toyota, Volkswagen

Tesla received all five of Mozilla's privacy "dings” thanks to its unreliable artificial intelligence (AI)-powered autopilot. It was reportedly involved in 736 crashes and 17 deaths and is undergoing multiple government investigations. Big yikes.

Perhaps Mozilla’s strangest finding was what cars can apparently do with data about your — wait for it — s*xual activity. No, that's not a typo. 

Nissan collects data on this super-intimate part of your life, and Kia says they can collect information about your "s*x life" in their privacy policy. No joke. Maybe, uh, save “it” for when you get home.

Driving us mad

It goes far beyond where you travel and how you get there.

In addition to our s*x lives (I’m still not over that), carmakers can even collect medical and genetic information. Of course, they can then use this information to create more data on you by assuming your abilities, interests and intelligence level. Mozilla also found:

• 84% of the researched brands share your personal data with service providers, data brokers and other businesses you know nothing about. 
• 76% of brands admit to selling that personal data.
• 56% say they can share your information with the government or law enforcement upon “request.”

The definition of "request" is murky. We're talking pretty informal, no court orders needed.

What can you do?

I’ll drive my 1964-½ Mustang. OK, doing that all the time or giving up driving altogether isn't a practical option. Neither is placing the burden on drivers to make smart privacy choices (which, frankly, don't exist). 

You can still make a difference by taking a couple of small actions. First, spread the word to other drivers. Hit one of the buttons below to send this research via email or social media.

🖊️ If you’re so inclined, Mozilla has a petition to stop car companies from collecting massive amounts of user data. Head here to sign your name and join the fight for drivers’ privacy.

True story, speaking of cars … I had to pick up some paperwork at the county offices. I found what I thought was a parking spot. A cop came over to me and said, “Ma’am, you can’t park there. This is where our politicians work.” I said, “Oh, don’t worry, I locked it.” He didn’t laugh.

AI fake-out: The Chinese Communist party is using AI-made pics and videos to spread misinformation ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Microsoft says. One of the suspected AI images shows the Statue of Liberty with the message, “The Goddess of Violence.” Hey, wait right there! I’m America’s Digital Goddess!

😭 Look who died: Don’t click on a strange link making the rounds on Facebook that says, “Look who died.” Surprise, it’s a scam. Lowlifes want to get all the deets on your account to wreak havoc.

Trial starts today: The U.S. government says Google unfairly crushed competitors like Yahoo, Bing, AltaVista and Ask Jeeves (now Ask[.]com). Put on your nice tie for court, Google. It’s the biggest antitrust trial in history: $1.7 trillion in damages — more than Google is worth.

Before your kids start bugging you: You can build and sell 3D goodies in the Roblox marketplace now with an upper-tier premium plan. (It used to be just 2D stuff.) It’ll cost 750 Robux (in-game currency worth about $2.50) to add designs to the marketplace. Also coming soon: Roblox for PlayStation. Hide your credit card.

🧪 Weird science: Scientists say they’ve created a human embryo-like entity without using sperm, an egg or a womb — a feat never accomplished before. So, what’d they use? Stem cells and a mix of chemicals. This is truly frightening to me.

Tomorrow is Apple’s “Sweet 15” party: That’s when we get an inside look at the new iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 and bid farewell to Lightning ports in favor of USB-C. I’ll update you, or you can watch it yourself. I love it when Tim Cook says something so mundane like, “And it has a battery that lasts five hours!” and the crowd claps like Taylor Swift jumped onstage. Oh, come on.

Bill Gates buying Maui land after fires: You might’ve seen a report floating around that Bill Gates is buying up a bunch of cheap lots in Maui after the fires. It’s not true. This fake news was posted on the Dunning-Kruger-Times parody website.

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I turn tech complexity into simplicity with my Daily Tech Update podcast. I’ll give you the top tech news and a useful digital life hack, all in under two minutes. It's the perfect match for your daily routine — no tech expertise required.

👉 Your journey to tech confidence is a click away!

Just imagine! No checking email, logging in, entering authentication codes, reading memes and seeing (too many) photos of your best friend’s meals. You might yearn for some disconnection, but it’s really difficult. Most of everyone’s work is on the computer.

Well, one dude in Canada tried it out. Aron Rosenberg spent a whole year offline. He taught English and theater at a high school and saw how his students always had their phones glued to their bodies.

He set out to explore what life would be like sans gadgets and Wi-Fi.

How’d it go?

He paid his bills by check and answered texts through SMS on his old-school flip phone. He wrote letters — 250 letters a month. 

He did his doctoral research the old-school way by looking through books and printed work. He also had more phone conversations. Sounds relaxing, right?

Since it’s still 2023, he’s back online, but (you guessed it), he wrote a book about it. It’s called “Jacking Out: A Journal of a Year Spent Offline.” I couldn’t find a link to the book. Maybe it’s only available offline?

✅ OK, maybe you can’t pull off a whole year without the internet, but I bet you can stop using your dang phone so much.

Hanging one picture is pretty easy. But what if you want to hang four pictures with two hooks on the back of each and you want them hung exactly 5.5 inches apart?

• Use the app Hang-a-Pic. Just input your number of pictures, hooks and dimensions. The app tells you exactly where to place the nails right there on your phone, or you can print complete directions via email. So smart.

Just hanging one thing?

• On iPhone, open the Measure app, then tap Level on the bottom right. The level will appear on the screen. Cool.
• On an Android, open the Google app or your browser and search for “bubble level.” Use it like a normal level, placing it on a surface. 

⭐ If a friend sees you doing this and wonders how you got so smart, tell them to get my free newsletter.

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He put it down in record time. Hope no one scratches it. (Did I hear a groan?)

The answer: The letter “E.” I asked ChatGPT for a fun fact about the letter “E.” Then I had to show it what’s up when I got this response:

“🥉 Position vs. Popularity: ‘E’ is the alphabet’s 5th letter. But in popularity? It's numero uno!”

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