GM Banned from Selling Your Driving Secrets Like Hotcakes for Five Years
KEY POINTS
- â˘Early this year, the FTC put a five-year ban on General Motors selling customer driving data to third-party agencies.
- â˘GMâs OnStar system had been collecting detailed data like speeding frequency and night driving habits without customersâ full consent.
- â˘The FTC settlement aims to stop GM from profiting further from private driver data collected over years of surveillance.
In an unprecedented move this January, the Federal Trade Commission slapped General Motors with a five-year ban on flogging customer driving data to consumer reporting agencies and third-party data brokers. For years, GMâs OnStar was covertly spying on driving habitsâincluding thrilling specifics like how often customers sped and drove in the nocturnal hoursâwhich apparently transformed your family minivan into a roaming data farm. This executive eavesdropping merited us gullible drivers in 2026 being treated less like customers and more like moving chipmunks with GPS trackers. The FTCâs penalty is less about moral outrage and more a legally binding reminder: apparently, you canât just sell the intimate details of grandmaâs grocery run to data vultures forever.
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(1 of 3)Source: Theverge | Published: 9/13/2026 | Author: Andrew Hawkins