General Motors has shuttered a program that collected data on how owners drive their cars. The company has hired its first Chief Trust and Privacy Officer to overhaul how it collects and shares data, and it pledged to develop “enhanced privacy controls aimed at greater transparency.”
A Shocking New York Times Report
The moves come after a series of New York Times reports revealing that some automakers collect data every time owners drive their cars and often sell it to insurance companies.
The Times looked into GM’s OnStar Smart Driver program. GM marketed it as a driving coach, which would give drivers insights on driving safely and using less gasoline. However, the program also collected data on hard acceleration and braking.
GM then sold detailed reports on each driving event to data broker LexisNexis, often printing out to hundreds of pages. That company then sold the data to insurance companies, who used it to evaluate risk and set rates.
GM and LexisNexis aren’t the only companies in that business. The Times reported that Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and Honda, as well as its Acura luxury arm, collected similar data and sold it to LexisNexis or rival company Verisk. Subaru also produces reports, though a spokesperson told the Times it shares only odometer readings.
Verisk, the Times reported, also holds data from Ford, though the paper didn’t detail what that data entailed.
Some Didn’t Sign Up
Some drivers contacted for the story said they hadn’t signed up for the service. In a later report, a Times reporter discovered a salesperson who sold her a car had signed up the journalist without her knowledge.
Privacy Becoming a Growing Issue for Drivers
Today’s new cars are as much computers as transportation devices. But Americans may not perceive them that way. Privacy advocates say that technology has allowed many companies to engage in privacy practices that shock owners when uncovered.
The Mozilla Foundation, a privacy research group, delved into car privacy for the first time in a major examination last year. The group called cars “the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed.”
Researchers found that many automakers reserved the right to collect and sell data from cars and even the phones that connect to them. Owners often consented to the practices in paperwork signed as part of a car sale, though Subaru’s policy even specifies that passengers consent to data collection just by entering a car.
Nissan’s privacy notice, the group said, says the company “can collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes. We absolutely aren’t making that up.”
GM Promises Changes
GM quickly stopped selling data to LexisNexis after the initial Times report. Now, the company has pledged a more thorough response.
The company said it will “discontinue Smart Driver across all GM vehicles and unenroll all customers. This process will begin over the next few months.”
It terminated partnerships with both LexisNexis and Verisk.
“Any data sharing with these companies ended on March 20,” GM says. The company also hired an executive to oversee customer privacy.
No other automaker has yet responded to the Times report.
