OnStar's 'brazen' data tracking comes under fire

How many people continue their supscription to OnStar after the 'free' period is over?
OnStar came with my Chevy but I never used it.

Still have my supscription. I will drop it when I quit traveling. The tracking doesn't bother me since in this age of electonics everyone is tracking where you go and what you buy. I will not loose sleep over it.

My wife got me an additional 300 minutes but after that I let it go. Now I need to find the fuse to disconnect!

The key word in what data is going to be collected or shared is "anonymized data". It is anonymous so I'm really not worried about any data they collect from my OnStar unit having any direct effect on me. The first time that word got out that someone was directly effected by some data they collected on them their business is destroyed.

New Privacy Statement from OnStar:
"We may share or sell anonymized data (including location, speed, and safety belt usage) with third parties for any purpose, which may prove useful for such things as research relating to public safety or traffic services,"

Unfortunately, I suspect that the politicians are doing this solely for the sake of looking like they care. After the initial shock is over, it will quietly fade away. This is no more egregious than what other companies have done or are currently doing.

But as I wrote in the other thread, we need to be very concerned about the ability of the companies to remotely control the devices we buy. The privacy hysteria is a sideshow.

You may never have used it, but they have "used" you.

We have had OnStar in the past three cars we've had. I was previously advised by an OnStar representative that they were collecting information. I was not concerned then and I am not concerned now.

With advances in technology come some liabilities and this is another one.

Take for instance your phone, not you cellular but your landline, you pay a monthly fee for unlimited local calls so there is no need for the phone company to keep track since they don’t charge you different if you call Peter, Paul or Mary as long as they are local, but there is detailed information kept of all the calls made from your phone (police often summon) with the number called and the time of day, this is not something concocted by homeland security it has been the norm since Bell called Watson.