The United States Department of Justice has subpoenaed Apple and Google to provide information on at least 100,000 users who downloaded the EZ Lynk Auto Agent app. It’s only the latest measure the federal government has taken against EZ Lynk, as the DOJ sued the company in 2021 while claiming it refused to cooperate with an Environmental Protection Agency investigation. At the heart of the fight are accusations that EZ Lynk purposely assisted customers in modifying their vehicles to violate the Clean Air Act.
User privacy is the major concern with this move by the DOJ, as Forbes highlights. The outlet points to a joint letter from EZ Lynk and the DOJ to the court, in which the former disputes the subpoenas’ validity, while the latter states that its lawyers want to interview individuals about how they used EZ Lynk’s products. Consumer rights advocates question why the DOJ would need anyone’s identities, addresses, and purchase histories to do so.
“These requests for potentially hundreds of thousands of people’s PII go well beyond the needs of this case and create serious privacy concerns,” EZ Lynk’s lawyers wrote. “Investigating this claim does not require identifying each person who has used the product.”
However, the DOJ says that anyone who agreed to EZ Lynk’s terms and conditions “no longer [has] a cognizable privacy interest as to that information.”
The DOJ also subpoenaed Walmart and Amazon to provide names and addresses for people who bought the EZ Lynk Auto Agent hardware.
There’s no question that drivers use EZ Lynk’s technology to defeat the emissions systems on their vehicles. You can find evidence of it across the web, with diesel truck drivers using it to reflash their engine control unit after removing the diesel particulate filter or exhaust gas recirculation system. But not everyone who has purchased an EZ Lynk Auto Agent or downloaded the app uses it for that purpose. It’s advertised to shop technicians for vehicle diagnostics, as well as fleet managers who need to monitor drivers’ electronic logging devices. It’s effectively a do-it-all OBDII tool that people can deploy for many reasons, including illegal ones.
Some may find the government’s continued pursuit of EZ Lynk surprising, given the EPA’s softened stance on enforcement. As far back as 2023, the agency has said that emissions defeat devices are no longer a top priority. It later announced that it would no longer pursue criminal charges over OBDII tampering. We’ve even seen President Trump pardon a convicted diesel tuner who was jailed for removing emissions components from trucks.
Nevertheless, the fight between the DOJ and EZ Lynk continues.
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