The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against General Motors and OnStar for allegedly sharing driver information with third parties without their consent. The agency launched an investigation into the car company after New York Times that GM collected customer vehicle usage data and sold it to third-party platforms used by insurance companies.
The information came from the OnStar Smart Driver program, which customers who owned GM vehicles were asked to participate in but didn't even realize they had agreed to join. The program collected data on behaviors such as heavy braking, night driving and speeding, and reportedly sold that information to LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk, which in turn sold the data to insurance companies. Soon after Time report, general director said it stopped sharing sensitive information with two data brokers.
The Federal Trade Commission today proposed an agreement that would prohibit GM and OnStar from disclosing consumer geolocation data and driver behavior to consumer reporting agencies for five years. These companies will also be required to take additional steps to increase transparency and customer choice in the information they collect and share.
“GM tracked and sold precise geolocation data about people and information about driver behavior, sometimes every three seconds,” FTC Chairwoman Lina M. Hahn. . “With this action, the Federal Trade Commission is protecting the privacy of Americans and protecting people from uncontrolled surveillance.”