General Motors has discontinued a program that collected data about how owners drive their cars. The company has hired its first chief trust and privacy officer to overhaul the way it collects and shares data, and it has committed to “developing strengthened privacy controls aimed at greater transparency.”
A shocking report from the New York Times
The moves come after a series of New York Times reports showing that some automakers collect data every time owners drive their cars and often sell it to insurance companies.
The Times examined GM’s OnStar Smart Driver program. GM marketed it as a driving trainer designed to give drivers insights into safe driving and better gas mileage. However, the program also collected data on hard acceleration and braking.
GM then sold detailed reports of each driving event to data broker LexisNexis, often printing hundreds of pages. This company then sold the data to insurance companies, which used it to assess risk and set rates.
GM and LexisNexis aren’t the only companies in this business. The Times reported that Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Honda, as well as its luxury division Acura, collected similar data and sold it to LexisNexis or rival company Verisk. Subaru also produces reports, although a spokesman told the Times that only mileage is reported.
The Times reported that Verisk also had data from Ford, although the newspaper did not detail what that data included.
Some didn’t register
Some drivers contacted for the story said they had not signed up for the service. In a later report, a Times reporter discovered that a salesman who had sold her a car had signed the journalist up without her knowledge.
Data protection is becoming more and more of a problem for drivers
Today’s new cars are both computers and means of transportation. But Americans may not perceive them that way. Privacy advocates say technology has allowed many companies to engage in privacy practices that shock owners when exposed.
The Mozilla Foundation, a privacy research group, looked at privacy in cars for the first time in a major study last year. The group called cars “officially the worst product category 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 connected to them. Owners often consented to the practices in the form of documents signed as part of a car sale, although Subaru’s policy even requires passengers to consent to data collection just by getting into a car.
According to the group, Nissan’s privacy policy states that the company “may collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnostic data, as well as genetic information and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes. We are not making this up under any circumstances.”
GM promises changes
After the initial Times report, GM quickly stopped selling data to LexisNexis. Now the company has promised a more comprehensive response.
The company said it would “discontinue Smart Driver for all GM vehicles and de-register all customers.” This process will begin in the next few months.”
The partnerships with LexisNexis and Verisk have been terminated.
“All data exchanges with these companies ended on March 20,” GM said. The company also hired an executive to oversee customer privacy.
So far, no other automaker has responded to the Times report.