GM banned from selling your driving data for five years

The settlement comes later a New York Times inquiry found that GM had been collecting micro-details on its customers’ driving habits, including acceleration, braking and trip length — and then selling it to insurance companies and third-party data brokers like LexisNexis and Verisk. Unintelligent vehicle owners were then asked why their insurance premiums were increasing.

For example, a consumer told a GM customer service representative that “[w]when I signed up for it, it was so OnStar could track me. They said nothing about reporting to a third party. Nothing. […] You guys are affecting our bottom line. I pay you, now you make me pay more to my insurance company.

The FTC accused GM of using a “deceptive enrollment process” to get vehicle owners to sign up for its OnStar connected vehicle service and Smart Driver feature. The automaker did not disclose to customers that it was collecting their data, nor did GM seek their consent to sell it to third parties. After Times expose the practice, GM said was discontinuing its OnStar Smart Driver program.

“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes every three seconds,” FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said in a statement. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from uncontrolled surveillance.”

The agreement also requires GM to obtain customers’ consent before collecting their driving behavior data, and allow them to request and delete their data if they choose.