Uh-oh: Government Motors wants to track you
Several years ago Glenn broke ties with GM as a sponsor, in large part because he was worried about their interactions with government. All that technology and access at the fingertips of the federal government just didn’t sit well with Glenn. At the time, they said they wouldn’t be doing any sort of tracking or anything like that. That was then, this is now. OnStar is now notifying it’s 6 million account holders that it will keep a complete accounting of the speed and location of OnStar-equipped vehicles even for drivers who discontinue the monthly service. Why?
“Look, we have clients that are GM dealers. The local dealers are good people. They’re good people. And GM makes great cars. What is this? What is this? If you own a GM car, you call up OnStar now and say, ‘What the hell do you mean by that? I don’t want you keeping track of my speed. I don’t want you to keep track of my location.” This is something they told me they would not do: “We’ll never do that. No, this is a service, we do that…’ really? Really? Why are you keeping records?”
“This General Motors guy says the old and new privacy policies allow OnStar to chronicle a vehicle’s every movement and its speed although it’s not clear where that’s stated in the old policy. What’s changed, that is, if you want to cancel your OnStar service, we’re going to maintain a two‑way connection to your vehicle unless the customer says otherwise.”
Harold
