The Internet is autonomous. You are not.

The much-heralded Internet of Things is shaping up badly. IOT refers to devices other than computers connected to the Internet, such as smart-home controls or connected refrigerators and televisions.

And automobiles:

Your car knows more about you than you think. Newer cars that connect to the internet can collect vast amounts of data about drivers, such as where you went to dinner, if you broke the speed limit or if your seat belt was buckled.  

When you buy a car, you cede data control to your car company. Most automakers say they won't sell information without an owner's consent. But they're not legally required to inform you if they do.

As they say, read the whole thing. But wait! There's more! "Lawyers reaching for in-car data -- Legal system begins seeking information flowing through vehicle telematics." Because if your car is keeping a database of how you drive, where you drive, when you drive, your speed and on and on, of course lawyers are going to go after that information. 

Information gathered by vehicle telematics systems such as General Motors' OnStar, Ford's Sync, BMW ConnectedDrive and others is garnering increased attention from lawyers who see the data as a puzzle piece in building court cases.  

It's a sign that privacy concerns raised about telematics data won't go away soon. At the least, the industry's quest to be closer to consumers through telematics has created new responsibilities involving data management.  

Those responsibilities include complying with court orders to turn over telematics data, which automakers say they have done. The privacy terms for ConnectedDrive's BMW Assist component says it may "collect and retain an electronic or other record" of a person's location or direction of travel at a given time -- providing another potential legal tool for lawyers to go along with cellphone records, vehicle black boxes and even airbag modules.  

That may irk consumers who worry about an all-seeing eye keeping tabs on their travels.

I'd say that "irk" is much too mild a term. It does  not stop there. Remember Progressive Insurance's plug-in driving-data collector, Snapshot? 

The Snapshot device collects information about how you drive, how much you drive and when you drive. It also collects your vehicle identification number and triggers an email to you if it comes unplugged. Some devices collect location data: this is only for research and development purposes—we don't use it to calculate your rate.

Uh, huh. As my Swedish friend Lars said, "Yah, shoor." The data from Snapshot go off to Progressive all on their own, autonomously. The day is coming - in fact, has arrived - when we will not be able to opt out or avoid such data snooping. 

Subaru announced that it has added eight cloud-based apps to the STARLINK multimedia system in the 2017 Impreza. Some are familiar, like Yelp. ... And one ought to give a bit of pause: RightTrack. According to Subaru, "RightTrack Test Drive from Liberty Mutual Insurance monitors driving habits and provides customers with tips on driving safer to help lower their insurance rates and improve their safe driving skills."

The more we use - and are used by - autonomous smart devices, the less autonomous we will be ourselves. Skynet is indeed shaping up, only not as James Cameron imagined it.