Texas sues General Motors, alleging illegal selling of driver data
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors Tuesday, alleging the carmaker illegally collected and sold drivers鈥� data to insurance companies without their consent or knowledge, according to a from the AG鈥檚 office.
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General Motors is the first car manufacturer to be hit with a lawsuit after the attorney general鈥檚 office into several manufacturers in June for allegedly collecting mass amount of data and then illegally selling it.
With the lack of a detailed, modern data privacy and security law at the federal level, many states are stepping in to pass their own regulations to protect consumers in the ever-growing data brokerage market.
In car models from 2015 and later, the Detroit-based car manufacturer allegedly used technology to 鈥渃ollect, record, analyze, and transmit highly detailed driving data about each time a driver used their vehicle,鈥� according to the AG鈥檚 statement.
General Motors sold this information to several other companies, including to at least two companies for the purpose of generating 鈥淒riving Scores鈥� about GM鈥檚 customers, the AG alleged. The suit said those two companies then sold these scores to insurance companies.
Insurance companies can use data to see how many times people exceeded a speed limit or obeyed other traffic laws. Some insurance firms ask customers if they want to voluntarily opt-in to such programs, promising lower rates for safer drivers.
But the attorney general鈥檚 office claimed GM 鈥渄eceived鈥� its Texan customers by encouraging them to enroll in programs such as OnStar Smart Driver. But by agreeing to join these programs, customers also unknowingly agreed to the collection and sale of their data, the attorney general鈥檚 office said.
鈥淒espite lengthy and convoluted disclosures, General Motors never informed its customers of its actual conduct鈥攖he systematic collection and sale of their highly detailed driving data,鈥� the AG鈥檚 office said in a statement.
CNN has reached out to GM for comment.