Former CSIS chief warns Chinese EVs ‘will acquire’ your data

China “will acquire” the information Chinese-made electric vehicles collect about you – that’s the blunt warning from David Vigneault, Canada’s former CSIS director, for anyone shopping for a connected car.

Vigneault is the most high-profile Canadian intelligence official yet to state grave concerns about connected Chinese EVs publicly, National Post reported – adding Canada’s voice to warnings from other Five Eyes intelligence chiefs about vehicles that phone home with camera, microphone and location data.

Why connected cars are the concern

Modern EVs are data machines: exterior cameras, driver monitoring, GPS histories, phone pairing and over-the-air updates. The worry isn’t one car – it’s scale, millions of vehicles whose sensors and software sit under the legal reach of a foreign state’s intelligence laws. Canada has already banned Chinese surveillance cameras from federal buildings over the same logic; cars, with far richer data trails, are the next frontier of the debate.

Ottawa has so far stopped short of security-based data rules for Chinese EVs – and has instead courted Chinese EV manufacturing, dropping tariffs to attract nearly 50,000 Chinese vehicles a year. Expect the pressure to grow. More in Tech & Science.

Correction – October 25, 2026: An earlier version said Ottawa still restricts Chinese EV imports with tariffs; per National Post, the Carney government dropped tariffs this year to attract nearly 50,000 Chinese EVs annually as part of a joint-venture manufacturing push. The passage has been corrected.