Privacy vs. Convenience: How Telematics Can Build User Trust

Introduction

In this episode of the Dolphin Technologies podcast, Yasmin and Harald explore the balance between privacy and convenience—a debate that’s becoming more critical in the age of digitalization, AI, and data-driven insurance. Using real-world telematics examples, they explain how insurers can build trust while still leveraging personal data to deliver valuable services.

Privacy or Convenience? A False Dilemma

Consumers are often asked to choose between safeguarding their privacy and enjoying seamless digital services. Harald points out that people already share a vast amount of data on platforms like TikTok or Facebook—as long as there’s perceived benefit.

In the world of telematics, sharing data isn’t optional—it’s essential to:

Detect accidents and alert emergency services in real time
Analyze driving behavior and provide feedback
Offer relevant, location-based services like travel insurance at airports

What Actually Happens With User Data?

While Dolphin Technologies operates fully under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), legal compliance is just the foundation. The real differentiator lies in how data is handled:

Data anonymization: User details like email or phone number are transformed into encrypted hashes. Neither Dolphin nor the insurer knows who the user is.
Chinese walls: Personal data and behavioral or location data are strictly separated.
Transparency: Users are clearly informed about how their data is used, when, and for what purpose.

How Telematics Differs From Social Media

In contrast to social media, where user data is typically monetized through advertising, telematics services are built on the use of data. Without access to data, the core services can’t function.

Practical examples include:

Accident detection without needing the user’s identity
Travel insurance offers triggered by GPS data (e.g., if a user spends 20+ minutes at an airport)
Driving scores based solely on behavior—without needing names, addresses, or ages

Trust Comes From Real Value

Privacy concerns are often driven by emotion—especially in German-speaking countries—while other regions, such as Central and Eastern Europe, tend to be more open. The key insight: Users will share data when the benefit is clear.

What insurers should focus on:

Go beyond legal arguments—show the user what’s in it for them
Communicate benefits in simple, relatable language
Maintain full transparency while offering services that genuinely improve lives

Final Thoughts

The debate over “privacy vs. convenience” can be resolved—through transparency, modern anonymization techniques, and meaningful user benefits. Telematics isn’t about surveillance; it’s about delivering services that save lives, improve safety, and add real value.

Insurers that treat privacy with respect and offer clear, useful outcomes will earn user trust—and loyalty.

Yasmin
Hi everyone, welcome back to our podcast. Today we’re going to be talking about a topic that has been talked about for years, which is privacy versus convenience.

Yasmin
Harald.

Yasmin
It’s a big topic in telematics, of course, since we do collect a lot of data.

Harald
Yes, absolutely. Let me break this down. What do we mean with privacy versus convenience? We’re used to using platforms, like social media, for example, in exchange for our data.

Harald
Our life becomes more convenient. We use messenger platforms, social media platforms, video platforms, partially for no cost. There’s this saying, if you don’t pay for a product, you are the product.

Yasmin
Yes.

Harald
Privacy has become a topic over the last decades, I would like to say.

Yasmin
I agree.

Harald
Especially as we are moving more and more into the digital world. And now that we’re seeing a war in artificial intelligence—the U.S. being in the lead, China coming up with Deepseek—we’re talking about where this data comes from, how these models are trained. It’s understandable that people are concerned about their personal data.

Yasmin
Of course.

Harald
Let me make one statement: we are working with insurance companies in the European Union, so we are under the GDPR, the general data protection regulation. Obviously, we respect all the laws.

Yasmin
Of course.

Harald
So this episode would be over.

Yasmin
No, you need to give us a bit more.

Harald
It’s not only about the legal framework. Even if you’re legally in conformity with all regulations, if people don’t trust you or don’t understand why you’re doing what you’re doing, and there is no benefit for them to give their data, they’re not going to do it.

Harald
In telematics, as you said, we are collecting a lot of data. This data is also personalized because even though there might be a separation between personal data like name, address, phone number, email, and telematics data, geolocations are still classified as personalized data. We use user locations to understand driving behavior, give feedback on potential risks, or upsell products and services like travel insurance at the airport. So yes, we do collect a lot of data.

Yasmin
So this kind of data is the type of data which I guess could make users hesitate to actually share their privacy. How can you build trust around this privacy and that the data is safe with us?

Harald
First of all, we see people share data extensively on social media platforms. You’re putting naked photos on Facebook, sorry.

Yasmin
But it’s important to know that they’re not really aware of what is done with this data. Since we are very transparent in our work, I think sharing and giving more insights into how it’s all regulated and kept private is very important.

Harald
Yes. Let’s break it down. What we are discussing is hypotheses and opinions. You’re discussing from your point of view, and I’m discussing from mine. I’m not an expert in psychology regarding social media behavior, but I am an expert in telematics. I know what we do, how and why we do it, and we care a lot about privacy. People share content because it’s convenient. Sharing on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook—it lets people stay connected. This behavior is monetized by providers who play personalized ads.

Harald
In telematics, we need the user’s data to help them. If someone has an accident, we need to know where they are. To score driver behavior, we need to know how and where they move. This is essential. Unlike social media, we need your data to provide the core service.

Yasmin
Help me, help you.

Harald
Exactly. I need this to provide my services. It’s not a workaround. Unlike a social media platform that uses your data for ads, we use it to provide service. It’s also about user perception.

Harald
It’s the duty of the insurance company to make people understand what happens with their data and who owns it. In reality, there is no ownership of data. You own your data. No one else can own it—they can use it with permission.

Harald
So, in an app, when users accept terms, settings, privacy policies, they give permission to the insurance company or telematics provider to use their data. We separate personal data like name and address from telematics data. Insurance companies don’t need to know your location.

Yasmin
So they don’t have my location?

Harald
They don’t have your location in the first place. They can request it only if needed for a service like sending first responders. What they need is a score, which is our duty. To score a driver, we don’t need their name, gender, or age. As discussed in a previous episode, there are three buckets of risk: the car (horsepower, make, model), the person (age, zip code, credit history), and telematics. We work with the third bucket, often independent of the others.

Harald
We anonymize your data. Here’s how: You subscribe to an app. You register with me as a telematics server. You can communicate with me without me knowing who you are.

Yasmin
Really?

Harald
I can build a secret key for communication. For example, if your email is 12345, instead of sending that, we sum the numbers: 1+2+3+4+5 = 15. I transfer 15. It’s not reverse-engineerable. It could be anything. Modern hashes are even more secure. We use hashing to anonymize and communicate without knowing your actual info.

Yasmin
Make sense.

Harald
Even passwords work this way. If your password is “hello,” the system stores a hash, not the word “hello.” This is how we know it’s you, without knowing your registration details.

Yasmin
Yeah.

Harald
We know it’s you through a hash. Say the hash is 15. The insurance company knows that too. They ask us for the score of 15. We ask you if you agree to share it. If yes, we tell them your score—say 950.

Yasmin
Wow. Again, so it’s about permissions, not data ownership. It’s important to share this because people often think “Big Brother is watching” when they hear about telematics data. Thank you so much for these insights.

Yasmin
I do have one last question. How do you make the telematics solution user-friendly while still being privacy conscious?

Harald
I can give you a score and services even without knowing who you are. I can detect an accident and alert a control room without your identity. The insurance company then matches the hash with your name to dispatch responders. I can also help send marketing offers at the airport. We tell the insurance company “user 15 is at the airport,” and they decide what message to send.

Harald
There’s a “Chinese wall” between personal data and telematics data. We don’t know your personal data, and the insurer doesn’t know your location or how we calculate scores.

Yasmin
Thank you so much for sharing this with me. Anything else you’d like to share?

Harald
What I want to emphasize is that insurance companies should consider that when they run out of arguments, they often throw around the privacy argument. But privacy has two aspects: legal and perceptual. Don’t debate whether what we do is legally compliant—it is. Instead, focus on the value to users that makes them willing to share data.

Yasmin
Yeah.

Harald
Users often don’t trust you because media has sensationalized privacy issues. It’s an emotional topic, especially in some countries. In CEE regions, people are very open with sharing. In some German-speaking countries, people are more cautious. What matters most is showing the user that you’re taking care of privacy and offering real value. Then privacy won’t be an issue.

Yasmin
It’s all beneficial at the end of the day. The value is beneficial. It’s clear.

Harald
You’re sharing so much when you watch TikTok or Instagram.

Yasmin
Or you enter a website and just accept all cookies.

Harald
Yes. You’re willing to share information when you see benefit. That’s what insurance companies should focus on—not just compliance, but usefulness. Build a product or service people appreciate, and they’ll trust you.

Yasmin
I definitely agree with you.

Yasmin
Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I learned so much about the privacy versus convenience debate. I believe it’s not a contradiction—definitely not in telematics. As we discussed, there’s added value in sharing your data, and we make sure it’s kept safe. Right, Harald?

Harald
It is. Thank you very much, Yasmin.

Yasmin
Thank you. See you next time.