The US Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with General Motors Co. over claims the automaker deceived drivers by collecting their personal data and sharing it with third parties.
As part of the settlement, GM will be banned for five years from collecting and sharing driver data. The FTC said that GM did not disclose to consumers that it would sell their geolocation and driving behavior information.
According to the complaint, GM installed its OnStar communications and navigation technology in most new cars made after 2015. That system tracked highly detailed driver data including speed, sharp turns, hard braking and seat belt use, and transmitted this information to consumer reporting agencies.
“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
In a statement, GM said the Smart Driver program at issue in the case was discontinued last year and that its commitments to the FTC go “above and beyond existing law.”
“GM will obtain affirmative customer consent to collect, use, or disclose certain types of connected vehicle data,” the company said. “We’re more committed than ever to making our policies and controls clear and accessible.”
The agency reached the settlement in the final days of Khan’s tenure. Under her leadership the FTC took an aggressive stance against consumer privacy violations including cases against Amazon.com Inc. for violations of children’s privacy and data brokers trafficking in highly sensitive geolocation data such as visits to abortion clinics.
The GM case is similar to a lawsuit filed last summer against the automaker by the Texas Attorney General. According to that case, GM allegedly pressured drivers into enrolling in products such as OnStar Smart Driver by saying certain safety features would be disabled if they didn’t sign up. But drivers weren’t informed that such products collected data and sold it to insurers, according to the Texas complaint.
Photo: Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg
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