The scandal over driver data collection by insurers or third parties selling drivers’ information to insurers continues with a lawsuit against a branch of Allstate Insurance Company, Arity, launched by the state of Texas this week.
Allstate “paid mobile apps millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software” according to Texas AG Ken Paxton as quoted by the New York Times. He went on to claim that “the personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law.”
The lawsuit asserts that Allstate has been collecting info about driver behavior and continues to do so, citing its subsidiary’s claim to have the most extensive database of such information on the planet. Data about 45 million U.S. drivers, including their location, movements and routes, how many times they braked, and a wealth of other information, has been collected non-stop through various apps and funneled to Arity and thus to Allstate.
All of this data harvesting and sale occurred without the consent or even knowledge of the millions of people tracked and monitored in detail, Texas claims. The illegal surveillance was used “to justify increasing their car insurance premiums, denying them coverage, or dropping them from coverage.”
GM has been implicated in the data harvesting as well. A reporter blew the whistle on The General last April after learning she and her husband were being spied on by their 2023 Chevy Bolt EV. Within weeks, GM axed its OnStar Smart Driver feature, which was being used to collect personally identifiable data for sale to insurers including Allstate subsidiary Arity.
By July 2024, some senators were urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate GM. The same month, Texas launched a probe into General Motors and five other major automakers related to data collection and sale. In August, the Lone Star State sued GM over its alleged illegal data gathering. The FTC took action against GM, prohibiting them from reporting location and driver behavior to consumer reporting agencies for 5 years.
Regarding the current suit versus Allstate, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton vowed that “Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.”
Comments
Would be nice to know what apps were collecting that data and selling it to Allstate so we can delete them.
Something we can agree on!
I don’t know about Ford, but for GM it is the OnStar apps.
What apps? I would guess 90% of them.
Nobody likes ads or pays for apps, so they monetized us in other ways…
I’m so tired of all these auto manufacturers and the government spying on everyone clicking their data making money on it. I hope these guys are found guilty and severely punished.
Problem is, if it’s built into your car, a la OnStar, you have no way of knowing if it’s recording and reporting whether you pay for the service or not.
The word “smart” in marketing always means “surveillance.” I really hope the entire data collection and surveillance industry is destroyed. What we have, in reality, is a privately owned ecosystem of spy agencies that governments tap into whenever they want. As always, your Average Joe is the one pays the price.
If you daily drive a 1953 Cadillac Series 62, a 1979 Corvette L82 4-speed, or a 1983 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance, you never need bother to worry about these modern day nuisances.
We never do.
I’m against all data collection. Particularly when the surveilled have not been asked for their permission. But what is so wrong with a domestic company doing it when it’s now OK for the Peoples Republic of China?
The more people will use their smart phone and similor gadgets, the more will they be vulnerable to loose their private life like in China where the government can know at what time you went for a leak, how long it tooks and if you dropped some on the floor. USA are becoming the China of the western world. Anxious to see what Trumpy Trump will do, next monday Jan. 20th with the president of TiKToK
One guy knew what was going on 25 years ahead everyone.
When he traded the Suburban for the Escalade the first thing he did was have all that OnStar crap ripped out.
Why do you think thieves rip the rearview mirrors off