GM settles California lawsuit claiming it sold driving habit data to insurance companies

"In a proposed settlement filed on Friday, GM agreed to stop selling customer information to data brokers for five years and must give California drivers the ability to stop its OnStar service from collecting location data."

"Under its settlement with California, GM must provide "clear and conspicuous" privacy notices about data collection when drivers enroll in OnStar. The automaker is also required to delete all driver data covered by the lawsuit and ask for customer consent before collecting or using a person's driving data."

"GM became the subject of several lawsuits after a 2024 report by The New York Times revealed that automakers, including GM, had been sharing driving data - such as speed, hard braking, and rapid acceleration - with data brokers and insurance companies, which reportedly adjusted pricing based on this information."

""Today's settlement requires General Motors to abandon these illegal practices and underscores the importance of the data minimization in California's privacy law - companies can't just hold on to data and use it later for another purpose," California Attorney General Rob Bonta says in the press release."

GM agreed to pay $12.75 million to resolve a California lawsuit alleging the sale of driver location and driver data. The settlement requires GM to stop selling customer information to data brokers for five years. California drivers must be able to stop OnStar from collecting location data. GM must provide clear and conspicuous privacy notices when drivers enroll in OnStar. GM must delete driver data covered by the lawsuit and obtain customer consent before collecting or using a person’s driving data. The settlement follows earlier allegations that automakers shared driving data such as speed, hard braking, and rapid acceleration with data brokers and insurance companies, which reportedly affected pricing.

Read at The Verge