Why would Nissan want to know about your sexual preferences? Simple: because car brands have found a source of income in selling your data, and your inferred preferences, to third parties.
Mozilla Foundation have recently published their research [1] into how 25 major car brands collect and share deeply personal data, including sexual activity, facial expressions, and genetic and health information.
They do this through car sensors, but also through direct contact with dealerships, their website, social media (yes!), and any of their apps you may download - all together working to build your profile and make assumptions about ("infer"), what your preferences are.
I myself took some time to read Nissan's US privacy notice [2] and it's dismal reading to say the least. Under the heading "Categories of information we collect and disclose", there is this:
"Sensitive personal information, including driver’s license number, national or state identification number, citizenship status, immigration status, race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information."
They can also share and even sell "Inferences drawn from any Personal Data collected to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s […] psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes" to others for targeted marketing purposes."
This means that one thing they infer from all the data is for example how smart they think you are.
Of course, if you are a passenger in a Nissan you will also be subjected to monitoring by sensors, and Nissan say it's up to the owner to tell passengers this surveillance is happening.
Oh, you think this is only about Nissan? Think again.
I haven't had a chance to see to what extent these practices are happening in the EU (where many of them of course are illegal), but the fact remains that there is a ton of surveillance going on in a modern car and you may want to start thinking about where that information ends up, how it is stored, who has access to it and how it is used.
[1] ‘Privacy Nightmare on Wheels’, research summary
[2] Nissan USA privacy notice
https://www.nissanusa.com/privacy.html
[3] What Data Does My Car Collect About Me and Where Does It Go
#DigitalEthics