Popular navigation-system OnStar, which offers in-car tracking and navigation information, has been blasted for its new privacy policy by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.
“By tracking drivers even after they’ve cancelled their service, OnStar is attempting one of the most brazen invasions of privacy in recent memory,” Schumer said in a written release.
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OnStar claims that customer’s rights have not been violated and that customers have been fully informed of the changes. Customers who tell OnStar they don’t want their data collected can still have the tracking disconnected. OnStar also says that, while it has reserved the right to sell customer data, it has no plans in the works to do so.
In a letter to OnStar, Schumer said the policy changes violated an implicit trust between consumers and the company that the personal data that OnStar collected would be protected. Schumer wrote: “More troubling, it is a violation of which many may not be aware; a reasonable consumer would assume that when they terminate a service, they will no longer be monitored by the service provider. “
Schumer has made tech security a focus of many of his recent announcements. For now, however the OnStar changes seem here to stay. OnStar is owned by General Motors and has more than six million U.S. customers who could be affected by the changes.