Fox News Blunders on Cash for Clunkers Privacy
FOX News has created a controversy for the Cash for Clunkers program. Their news report that is getting some buzz is mis-guided and in fact, Fox News has created a large media blunder.
The commentators in the video start on track but quickly go off base when they make consumers think that their privacy and personal home computer files are going to be the property of the US government if they go to the www.cars.gov website.
The commentator advises consumers: “do not do this at home” which is refering to going on www.cars.gov. Read on to see why this advice is mis-leading.
Fox News did a Bait and Switch.
Beck tells consumers he is going to www.cars.gov but his computer is not actually on that website.
Beck’s laptop was on the “blue” CARS website which is designed for car dealers only and is located on a different URL: http://www.cars.gov/dealer/
The BLUE CARS website is for dealers and not for consumers. The majority of their story accuses the DOT of having the right to take CONSUMER personal information off their computers if consumers go to cars.gov.
Consumers only use the GREEN Car Allowance Rebate System website.
On the Consumer website there is NO data submission button required nor is there any such privacy message displayed. The submission button Glenn Beck refers to is for dealers to enter in car sales for reimbursement.
At the 5:15 minute mark in the video, the newscaster Beck says “If you log into this at your home, everything in your home is theirs?” and the panelists all agree.
Since we knew that this was not the consumer website for the CARS program, we were concerned about the confusion Fox News was creating. So we decided to present the facts as we see it.
NO consumer can login to the dealer “blue” CARS website nor has anyone told them to login. This is such a large blunder that it is amazing that Fox was bedazzled with a story which obviously had a pre-designed agenda and no research. (This story was later updated to focus on the dealer issue only)
Fox uses the words “frightening”, “seizing all your private information”, “continue to track you”, ‘these are wicked people” all on the WRONG website that consumers would never use.
Consumers have been told to go to www.cars.gov which is a green website. Period.
A Silver Lining – A Benefit from Fox News Coverage
The Fox report did pose a wake-up call for car dealers. The bright side of the Fox News Report and subsequent coverage was that the privacy language pertaining to dealers was taken down and is being revised by the Obama administration. We do thank Fox News for bringing this matter to a head and giving car dealers much needed relief from such burdensome language.
Our point of adding this post was that this was never a consumer privacy issue and consumers should not fear going to www.cars.gov
Watch the Video
Once you know that they are on the BLUE dealer branded website you can see how this matter was never a consumer privacy issue at all. A consumer would not be logging into the dealer portal from their home computer as suggested in the video clip.
Note: Despite what this video says, it is safe to go to www.cars.gov and check to see if your car qualifies for a rebate. Your personal data on your computer will not be compromised. You do not have to agree to the privacy statement shown on the video. That privacy policy is for car dealers only and it is in the process of being changed due to the coverage by Fox News. (added Monday evening 11:48 EST)
18 Responses to “Fox News Blunders on Cash for Clunkers Privacy”
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Ohio Greg – when a national broadcast tells consumers NOT to go to http://www.cars.gov, is that not news worthy?
When FOX tells consumers that if they go to http://www.cars.gov that their personal PC computer files are subject to search and seizure, which is not the case, is that not hard news?
Our post was just to set the record straight that consumers can go to cars.gov and not be worried.
I have never watched Glenn Beck nor do I have any opinion about him other that his newscast is a lesson in fearcasting and not broadcasting.
Enough said.
We will end comments here. So much for blogging…
“The FOX broadcast does nothing but further stir panic and chaos into the public media.”
Guys…c’mon…are you serious???
Just a guess here…
If you’re looking for free government money via the CARS program, it’s a pretty safe bet you aren’t watchng Glenn Beck in the first place. I’m not going to lose much sleep over the “panic and chaos” that will be injected into the public media from this 2-minute Glen Beck segment. I don’t expect to see rioting or CARS Tea-Parties tomorrow when I wake up.
Let’s get back to posting “hard” news stories about CARS!
Kristin you avoid the main point..Fox moves from the dealer to the statement that the government has access to everything in their home. Their is no connect the dots here. Just a quick bait and switch to consumers having their home data and personal files in control of the government. “Access to everything in the home” has nothing to do with a dealer entering in a sale.
It is a misleading twist in the coverage.
The other fact that I would like to make is as of a few hours ago… the verbiage had been removed!!!!!
…. and this is exactly why Fox News continues to soar in ratings, crushing CNN and MSNBC. They seem to be the ONLY network willing to report the facts anymore. Glenn clearly says “The Dealer goes to cars.gov” and also when the camera zooms in… it says… wait for it… DEAL SUPPORT.
By the way… I wonder who facilitates this website?
WCD — you are hopeless living with the idea of “i have nothing to hide so you can spy on me” attitude. The point of privacy intrusion has nothing to do with whether you are doing some legit or not — the point is we live in the USA where our four fathers thought it wise to to protect out rights including rights of privacy. Go educate yourself on the constitution, bill of rights, and the ninth amendment in particular and stop being a freeloader of America and start defending our rights!
The core issue for consumers and dealers alike is that Congress mandated that the NHTSA start the program in 30 days. This has caused a series of problems that is frustrating consumers and dealers.
It was unrealistic for any agency to create a fault tolerant, high volume dealer processing website without proper time to spec, test and training dealers. Until this bill was signed the Federal government never had a list of new car dealers in their hands with accurate contact data.
Chaos reigns as dealers still have no clear direction on when to stop taking deals and when they will get paid.
The FOX broadcast does nothing but further stir panic and chaos into the public media. They provided misleading information that scares the average consumer who is being told that the Federal Government will have access to “everything in their home”.
Yes the broadcast starts about talking about “the dealer” and then switches to the consumer and that their personal computer data is subject to Federal government inspection and seizure.
That was the point of the post; consumers were never in a place to worry about seeing that warning message. Fox hyped it without concern for the fact that the millions on consumers who visited cars.gov never saw that message, never clicked on a dealer button and were not agreeing to having their personal data subject to Federal control.
This is as much a non-issue as Rachel Maddow reporting tonight that the CARS program was an “unbelievable success.” She said the only problem was that “dealers aren’t filling their paperwork out fast enough.” Say what?!?!?
There doesn’t seem to be a media outlet that can just spell it out…
Lot’s of people like the CARS program because it’s free money, and the government’s implementation is, at best, a major cluster-foxtrot.
Both the posting on this site above AND the folks in that newscast are idiots.
1) The site in the newscast says “Dealer Support” so there’s no confusion there.
2) “this system” refers to the web server, NOT your personal computer.
Get over it people.
What a bunch of dumb people…
What’s that NSA or CIA program, Wolverine or something that stops, looks, and listens at keywords “it” deems hostile on the InterWeb. Everything is in the public domain, now. Have you all heard about the huge hack-hole in iPhones that lets outsiders turn on your phone, phone’s microphone, camera ad naseum. Privacy is not the issue here. We are trying to get people into safe, economical cars. This is not a give away. It is a subsidy like the airlines are getting all the time, and banks with bad mortgages, and people with bad credit. This is America, baby, we take care of our own. Hooray!
Wow…check out all these craptacular Fox News/Glenn Beck sympathizers freaking out about their personal computer information getting hijacked by the federal government IF they choose to partake in a cash for clunker deal. Hey – where were all you fools when George W. Bush’s administration pushed through warrentless wiretapping on domestic cell phones via FISA? Not a peep out of you back then, or if any of you bozos did say anything about FISA, it was some stupidly smug comment like ‘Well, if you’re not doing anything illegal, then you have nothing to worry about’. Now that the scary black guy is in office, y’all got your panties in a bunch, huh?
Get a clue, people – you’re already being spied on – you have been for years now. Get over it. I mean, what do you have to worry about? If you’re not doing anything illegal on your PC, you’re safe, right? Sound familiar?
The average visitor here is probably home watching MSNBC anyway, right?
Actually Beck says it pretty clear that this is on the Dealers website….and whose information is on the dealers computer? If you buy a car with a dealership, all the info you give the dealership, you, according to Beck, Give the government. This was brought to his attention by a regular guy…not a fox new idealist.To the writer i say, You might not like Beck, but don’t use your personal political views to attack and defame somebody. Disprove the info, not the people . thats pretty childish. The writer needs to grow up and stop being such a baby. We are not at odds with certain political parties but with people who oppose freedom which is what every American should want since people shed their own blood for our freedom. So keep your own feelings about Fox News and about Glenn Beck out of story. You only discredit yourself.
Technically the host does say, “the DEALER goes to cars.gov”. Once they start talking about ‘logging on from home’ it is absurd, but in all honesty should the federal government have full access to copy ALL the files on every dealer’s computer? It may not be a consumer issue, but it is definitely an issue for the dealer.
You KNOW the dealers have to submit this information on you. Whether you give it to the Feds or the dealer does…really makes no difference
What happens to the information the consumer gives to the dealer and, therefore, ends up on their website and, therefore, is subject to be given to the government?
It’s Fox News. What do you expect.