GM is once again accused of secretly selling American driving data

Arkansas lawsuit claims GM uses “dark mode” to manipulate customers to share data unconsciously

If you think your car is just a way to transport, think about it again, because it is a gold mine for data brokers. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has filed lawsuits against GM and Onstar, allegedly selling driving data to insurers.

The lawsuit is just the latest in an increasing list of cases where automakers are collecting and selling user data. Last August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors on similar charges, and recently, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and FCA have all faced similar suits.

Read: Texas Detect Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, FCA, for Sale of Sensitive Driver Data

The lawsuit was filed in Phillips County Circuit Court, claiming that GM has been tracking and conducting detailed customer driving data with third-party brokers for more than a decade. Data collected by General Motors allegedly include vehicle speed, percentage of driving at high speed, late-night driving habits, travel distance, acceleration and braking methods. It depicts a picture of a company eager to understand its customers’ driving habits, even if they cruise along an empty highway at 3 a.m.

Unconsensual data collection

According to the lawsuit, GM has been selling this data for years without the driver’s explicit consent. It is said that information about more than 100,000 cars is included in Arkansas alone.

Even more worrying is that GM collects data not only from Onstar users, but also from anyone using GM mobile apps or activates an Internet connection in its cars. In other words, if you’ve ever used Wi-Fi in GM, they’re probably keeping track of you even if you’ve never signed up for Onstar Services.

“Dark Mode” accusation

The lawsuit also accused General Motors of using what is called “dark mode,” a design technique designed to trick customers into agreeing to terms they may reject, and they may make fully understood decisions by “utilizing consumers’ cognitive biases to keep them away from the material information they need.”

GM allegedly sold driving data to a third-party exchange, first receiving a one-time payment for the first batch and then continuing to make regular payments to pay for other data sent over the next few years.

The Arkansas survey is about a year later The New York Times Revealed several automakers are selling sensitive driving data and sharing it with insurance companies. It was discovered that GM has been selling information to data brokers Lexisnexis risk solutions and Verisk.

At a press conference on litigation Eldorado NewsArkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin highlighted the lack of transparency in these practices. “No one knows that this is happening. Even if Arkansans read every word carefully on the screen (register) screen, all disclosures, all link policies, it took any time to do it, and we all face all disclosures, and we are usually (when you (when you) are in a hurry, we are just rushing to click and keep moving forward…that information… still doesn’t inform GM of what it actually is doing.”

In other words, “exquisite prints” are obviously much better than consumers realize.