General Motors Is Banned From Selling Driving Behavior Data for 5 Years
An investigation by the Federal Trade Commission determined that consumers had not been aware that the automaker was providing their driving information to data brokers.
The Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday that it had reached a settlement with General Motors that would ban the automaker from providing drivers’ behavior and geolocation data to consumer reporting agencies. The ban will last for five years.
The New York Times reported last year that G.M. was collecting data about people’s driving behavior, including how often they sped or drove at night, and selling it to data brokers that generated risk profiles for insurance companies. Some drivers reported that their auto insurance rates increased as a result.
“G.M. monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” said Lina M. Khan, the chair of the F.T.C. “With this action, the F.T.C. is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
The F.T.C. opened an investigation and determined that G.M. had collected and sold data from millions of vehicles “without adequately notifying consumers and obtaining their affirmative consent.” Drivers who signed up for OnStar Connected Services and activated a feature called Smart Driver were subject to the data collection. But federal regulators said the enrollment process was so confusing, many consumers did not realize that they had signed up for it.
