PRIVACY: is Onstar going too far?
Date: 2001-09-06
An article in the August issue of Motor Magazine is critical of new plans being floated by GM's Onstar to feed information it gathers about your driving habits to insurance companies. Editor John Lypen writes, "just what are these driving patterns that my insurer would use to determine my personal risk factor? According to Mr. Hogan, they include how far you travel, how fast you travel and where you travel."
In other words, writes Lypen, "if OnStar catches me shopping in an "undesirable" neighborhood, or driving to a Detroit Tigers baseball game, the jig's up and my rates increase? Sorry, guys, you'll have to move the stadium to the suburbs if you want me to attend any ballgames next year!"
Lypen has problems with the "permission-based marketing approach to information-gathering by telematics devices.
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