FTC bans General Motors from selling driver data for five years

The Federal Commerce Fee has taken motion towards Basic Motors and OnStar for allegedly sharing particulars about drivers to 3rd events with out their consent. The company launched an investigation into the automotive firm after The New York Instances that GM had collected knowledge about prospects’ car use and offered it to third-party platforms utilized by insurance coverage corporations.

The data got here from the OnStar Sensible Driver program, which prospects with GM automobiles had been inspired to take part in or did not notice they’d agreed to affix. This system gathered knowledge about behaviors similar to arduous braking, late night time driving and dashing and reportedly offered the data to LexisNexis Danger Options and Verisk, which in flip offered that knowledge to insurance coverage corporations. Shortly after the Instances report, GM said it had stopped sharing the delicate data with the 2 knowledge brokers.

In the present day, the FTC proposed a settlement that may see each GM and OnStar banned from disclosing shoppers’ geolocation and driver conduct knowledge to client reporting businesses for 5 years. These corporations will even be ordered to take extra steps to extend the transparency and selection for patrons surrounding the data they gather and share.

“GM monitored and offered individuals’s exact geolocation knowledge and driver conduct data, generally as typically as each three seconds,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan . “With this motion, the FTC is safeguarding Individuals’ privateness and defending individuals from unchecked surveillance.”