Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch helped announce a $220 million nationwide settlement with General Motors on Thursday.
Along with 35 other attorneys general, Fitch helped obtain a settlement that will require GM to obtain affirmative express consent from consumers before collecting or disclosing consumer driving location data. In addition to the privacy protections, the states secured $220 million, $3.6 million of which will be given to Mississippi.
According to the Fitch’s office, from 2016 to 2024, GM enrolled millions of drivers in a program called Smart Driver that tracked their driving habits. GM pitched it to drivers as a way to improve their safety and driving skills, and claimed it would not share their data with insurers without drivers’ consent.
However, the coalition of attorneys general found that GM did in fact sell the drivers’ information to data brokers, who used it for insurance products. The brokers then reportedly sold the data to insurance companies who were able to change the drivers’ premium based on their driving habits tracked by Smart Driver. GM is said to have neglected to disclose to drives that their data was or would be sold for this purpose.
“GM convinced consumers that their Smart Driver program was designed to promote safe driving. Instead, the company sold sensitive location and driving data to third-party data brokers without consumers’ consent,” Fitch said. “We will hold companies accountable when they mislead consumers and violate their trust. I’m proud to stand alongside my colleagues in this settlement.”
Additionally, the attorney general’s office noted that the OnStar app mistakenly told over 370,000 drivers that they weren’t enrolled in the Smart Driver program, when they were and GM was selling their data. GM was said to have later unenrolled these drivers without informing them of the mistake or that their data had been sold.
“The settlement also requires GM to limit the driving data it collects from consumers and protect their personal information going forward as part of a comprehensive data privacy program,” a press release added. “The terms mandate internal and external data protection and privacy program assessments. GM also agreed to oversight and training requirements at their dealerships to protect consumers against being enrolled in data collection schemes without their consent.”