OnStar tracks users' driving habits even after they quit service; it must stop: Schumer

'Shameless'! OnStar tracks users' driving habits even after they quit service; it must stop: Schumer

BY Lore Croghan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, September 25th 2011, 5:33 PM
Sen. Chuck Schumer is angry that the GPS service, OnStar, is monitoring drivers even after they cancel service.
Carlos Osorio; David Handschuh/News
Sen. Chuck Schumer is angry that the GPS service, OnStar, is monitoring drivers even after they cancel service.
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Turn it off, OnStar! That's Sen. Chuck Schumer's message to the automotive GPS service, which announced it's automatically tracking where ex-customers go, how fast they drive and even if they and their passengers wear seat belts.

Schumer is calling on OnStar honcho Linda Marshall to end the new practice, which the company announced last week, of keeping watch on former customers unless they explicitly opt out.

And he's demanding the Federal Trade Commission investigate whether OnStar's new policy is an unfair or deceptive trade practice.

OnStar defened its practice, and says customers who wish to opt out are informed they can do so when they cancel their service. The company also claimed it has the right to sell data about current and former customers' driving habits to third parties.

"It's shameless, it's an invasion of privacy, and it must be stopped," Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters in his Manhattan office Sunday.

An OnStar exec said though the company reserves the right to sell customer data, it had not done so and did not plan to do so.

"We apologize for creating any confusion about our terms and conditions," Joanne Finnor, vice president of subscriber services, told the Associated Press.

"We want to make sure we are as clear with our customers as possible, but it's apparent that we have failed to do this."

OnStar GPS devices are included as standard features in most new General Motors vehicles. Nationwide, 6 million drivers use its service.

OnStar has said it would render data anonymous before selling it - but that's no guarantee customers are safe, Schumer said.

"We have seen anonymous data exposed or obtained by hackers," he said.

With News Wire Services

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/09/25/2011-09-25_onstar_plan_to_sell_users_private_driving_habits_is_shameless_says_sen_chuck_sch.html#ixzz1ZAiBCAsf