By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Anyone who owns a fairly new General Motors product may want to take a closer look at the most recent OnStar terms and conditions – which the company altered to allow them to legally collect GPS data on your vehicle, and possibly sell it to third parties, even after you unsubscribe.
AutoBlog is reporting that the new terms substantially alter the way data is collected by the OnStar communication service GM offers its drivers. Originally, the terms and conditions stated that OnStar can only collect information on a vehicle’s location during a theft recovery or when sending emergency services. The new terms give OnStar the right to collect and personal information, which they claim will be handled anonymously, on a vehicle including speed, location, fuel economy, odometer readings, how often the tank is filled, when a seat belt is worn and even when the ignition is on. According to the new policy, OnStar can gather this information “at any time.”
OnStar e-mailed their revised privacy statement to customers, saying: “”We may share or sell anonymized data (including location, speed, and safety belt usage) with third parties for any purpose, which may prove useful for such things as research relating to public safety or traffic services.” Information pertaining to a driver’s whereabouts and driving habits can be sent to law enforcement, insurance companies, and other interested parties.
But what’s causing even more outrage is that the latest terms and conditions allow the company to continue to collect data even after the owner unsubscribes to the service. The only way to disconnect it will be to specifically shut down the vehicle’s data connection.
Not surprisingly, the changes sparked outrage among customers, many of whom are accusing the company of burying these revisions inside a lengthy document that most subscribers will never read.
“I canceled the OnStar subscription on my new GMC vehicle today after receiving an email from the company about their new terms and conditions,” wrote scientist and blogger Jonathan Zdziarski in a post. “Anonymized GPS data? There’s no such thing!”
Zdziarski goes on to list a variety of ways this “anonymous” data can be used against a driver, such as by insurance companies who can use it to raise rates on habitual speeders or retailers who want to track what stores a person frequents. Employers might use it to spy on employees travel and lawyers could subpoena such data and use it against a person in court. It could cause all kinds of havoc, from allowing the goverment to monitor people to telling marketing firms who to spam, he says. And what about the rest of that “long list of other not-so-squeaky-clean people who use (and abuse) existing online, credit card, financial, credit, and other analytics to destroy our privacy,” Zdziarski asks.
In response to the dust up over the new policy, OnStar issued a statement defending the new policy and their decision to keep the two-way connection open unless they are specifically asked not to do so.
“Under our new Terms and Conditions, when a customer cancels service, we have informed customers that OnStar will maintain a two-way connection to their vehicle unless they ask us not to do so,” says Joanne Finnorn, Vice President, Subscriber Services.
“In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations. Another benefit for keeping this connection ‘open’ could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues.”
She goes on to say, “Of course, if the customer requests us to turn off the two-way connection, we will do as we have always done, and that is honor customers’ requests.”
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