GoKawiilFTC penalty on GM exposes widespread auto industry data sales to brokers
The FTC banned General Motors for five years from selling customer driving data to consumer reporting agencies after finding the automaker had collected details like speeding and nighttime driving through its OnStar Smart Driver feature and passed them to data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk, which serve insurers. Many drivers say they didn't realize they had consented to this tracking, and some reported their insurance rates rose as a result. Research from the Mozilla Foundation found nearly every major automaker has similarly weak privacy protections and overlapping, confusing consent policies for vehicle data.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Connected cars now function as rolling data collection devices, often without drivers' clear understanding or consent, feeding into pricing decisions made by insurers behind the scenes. The GM settlement signals regulators are starting to scrutinize this practice, but since the issue is industry-wide, one enforcement action against a single automaker won't fix the broader lack of transparency and control drivers have over their own vehicle data.
- FTC banned GM from selling driver data to brokers for five years and mandated easier opt-outs and data deletion.
- GM shared driving behavior data with LexisNexis and Verisk, which insurers used to help set rates.
- Mozilla Foundation research found nearly all major automakers have poor privacy practices, not just GM.
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Published there as: “Your car is selling your data”
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