Where is the capital of consumer data privacy in the USA? Today, the state of Arkansas is leading the charge. The Arkansas Attorney General is suing General Motors for deceptively collecting and selling citizens’ driving data. And he’s not wrong.
General Motors sold driving data to insurance companies
Last year, General Motors got caught tracking its vehicle owners’ driving habits and selling that data. It looks like the tracking was all done though OnStar’s above-board option “Smart Driver” service. It’s a service which ranks how safe or how reckless your driving is. The service can use GPS data, acceleration data, braking data, and other data points.
This is great, if you just want to see OnStar’s rank of how safe you are. Or know more about a driver you lend your car to. But the problem is that GM turned around and handed the data to brokers–such as LexisNexis and Verisk–with your name attached to it. Then insurance companies bid on the data and–according to a NYT investigation–used it to jack up your premium rates.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers sues GM on behalf of Nebraskans
General Motors first insisted it only sells data from a customer who “explicitly consents.” As criticism grew, and shocked customers came forward with their stories, the automaker changed its tune. “OnStar Smart Driver customer data is no longer being shared with LexisNexis or Verisk.”
It maintains it did nothing wrong, but AG Mike Hilgers isn’t buying the bull. “Nebraskans deserve to work with companies that are truthful and honest about what they are doing…That is not what happened here, and we filed this lawsuit because one large company decided that it wouldn’t honestly tell Nebraskans that their data was going to be used to impact their insurance rates. This is wrong. Our office will hold companies that mislead Nebraskans accountable, no matter how large.”
Lawsuits like this do impact huge corporations: They can’t fight every state at once.
New York Times writer Kashmir Hill said of the GM driving data scandal, “I think this story could be the tip of the iceberg.” When the Mozilla foundation poured over 25 car companies’ privacy agreements, it was shocked at what it found. No other class of “electronics,” from your cellphone to your computer, demands you sign away as much of your rights to your data–just to turn on.
Cars can track where you drive and who comes with you. The latest ones can record images or video, both outside and inside the data. Automakers record your financial data through the car buying process. And with apps on our phones to interact with our cars, automakers also reserve the right to any communications, locations, and other app data they want to scrape off your phone. Your car company does have a file on you, and it’s likely being cagey about who can pay to see that file. We’ll need leaders like AG Mike Hilgers to take the fight to these corporations and stand up for drivers everywhere.
