I wondered too if it wasn’t the “new car” syndrome. No idea if he had an Alexa thing on his phone. Although years after he had talked about it there was that case(s) where people that shared previous internet meetings or something got the recordings of others having private conversations in their living rooms due to a software problem.
However, I do just assume that “they” can listen in or perhaps even watch. (Yes - I do have my computer cameras covered! It would be a boring show, but...)
There is a pdf document called “If Wheels could talk...” by Nicolle Mo, New York University School of Law thesis. I just found it and skimmed it remembering a case where a car’s black box was gone through for evidence.
It seems that a warrant is not always needed when it comes to a vehicle. The first case she mentions is where a car with On Star (whose subscription had expired but was still on) got an emergency call (by accident) and the operator that got the call could tell that it was a drug deal going down, and told the police that were on the way to the “emergency” about it and they arrested the people.
I think they’d need to have a reason to actively monitor someone in the first place.
I don’t think it’s right or necessary to scoop up all of our communications the way that they apparently do; but I don’t think they’re listening to random people out here, either. That would be an incredible - and impossible - waste of time and money.