Your car is selling your data — SkimNews
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- The FTC issued an unprecedented five-year ban on GM selling customer data to consumer reporting agencies and third-party data brokers.
- GM collected driving data — including speeding frequency and night driving — via its OnStar Smart Driver feature and sold it to LexisNexis and Verisk; a 2024 New York Times investigation found some drivers' insurance rates went up as a result.
- Mozilla Foundation researchers concluded every major car company had "horrible privacy and security," with overlapping data policies spanning the vehicle, connected services, smartphone app, and loan financing.
- Consumer Reports found "nearly every automaker that sells cars in the U.S. is similarly collecting and sharing so-called 'driver behavior data' with other companies and continues to do so."
- House Republicans introduced the DRIVER Act in December, which gives owners more data control but still permits automakers to collect and sell data to brokers — a framework privacy advocates call a nonstarter.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy proposed the "Freedom Car" concept, asserting Americans' right to "drive disconnected and non-automated" vehicles and banning government requirements for automated driving systems or wireless data transmission.
Why it matters: The DRIVER Act — the primary federal response — still allows automakers to collect and sell driver data while placing the opt-out burden on consumers, a framework privacy advocates reject. Automakers have every financial incentive to keep harvesting data because the broader data economy rewards it, meaning meaningful change likely depends on consumer demand for simpler vehicles like the Slate Truck.
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