Your point is aptly demonstrated by the article — the car may still use tethering via Bluetooth to exfiltrate your data[1]. The workaround of always using a wired connection is both inconvenient and unreliable — the same facility could be added for wired connections at any time.

I would like to see some form of IP/property rights applied to user data, with treble damages for willful infringement.

The entire concept of collecting user data and calling it “telemetry” needs to be abandoned — including (especially) in the software industry. Collecting any user data ought to be something that makes corporate lawyers nervous.

Unfortunately, I expect that to happen roughly after hell freezes over.

[1] I couldn’t confirm that any car currently actually does this. Hypothetically, iPhone tethering is possible over both USB and Bluetooth if personal hotspot is enabled.