Giant automaker General Motors (GM) has reached a multi-million dollar deal in California to settle allegations of unlawful sale of data belonging to drivers.
According to the California Attorney General Rob Bonta, GM will pay $12.75 million in civil penalties to settle accusations of having collected and kept data belonging to hundreds of thousands of Californian drivers who had subscribed to the automaker’s vehicle connectivity service, OnStar.
Per a lawsuit that was filed by the California Attorney General and various District Attorneys in the state, the data in question included “names, phone numbers, home addresses, speeds, rapid acceleration, and hard braking, as well as the GPS location of where OnStar subscribers drove and parked their vehicles.”
The lawsuit further alleged that GM informed OnStar subscribers that their data would only be used to assist in offering OnStar services such as “summoning an ambulance, providing driving directions, or improving driver skills.”
But in 2020, GM started selling the driver information to data brokers Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, without the consent or knowledge of its customers. This violated the privacy and consumer protection laws of California, according to the lawsuit.
“The deals were structured such that GM stood to benefit financially as Lexis and Verisk continued to receive driver data, and continued to use it to offer updated driver ratings, which insurers could purchase. Ultimately, GM made approximately $20 million nationwide in connection with these data sales.”
Besides the $12.75 million penalty, the settlement also requires GM to stop selling data to consumer reporting agencies for half a decade. GM is also required to delete the driving data it retains within six months and also to request Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions to delete the driving data.
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