Before OnStar, Marshall was CEO of Revol Wireless, a small, privately held communications firm.
OnStar announced today it is reversing its proposed “terms and conditions” policy changes and will not keep a data connection to customers’ vehicles after the OnStar service is canceled.
The GM telematics services created an uproar when it recently sent e-mails to customers telling them that effective 1 December their service would change so that data from the vehicle would continue to be transmitted to OnStar after the service was canceled – unless the customer asked for it to be shut off. GM gives away a limited subscription to OnStar with a new vehicle purchase.
Several U.S. Senators, including Charles Schumer of New York, decried what they characterized as an unprecedented invasion of privacy which would allow OnStar to sell information about the vehicle and owner use to unnamed third parties.
“By tracking drivers even after they’ve canceled their service, OnStar is attempting one of the most brazen invasions of privacy in recent memory,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement released yesterday. Schumer called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate OnStar for what he felt was an unfair trade practice.
“We realize that our proposed amendments did not satisfy our subscribers,” OnStar President Linda Marshall said in a statement. “This is why we are leaving the decision in our customers’ hands. We listened, we responded and we hope to maintain the trust of our more than 6 million customers.”
The OnStar privacy about face does not address what will remain an issue about OnStar’s data collection and reselling of current subscriber information, which affects about 6 million people. In the U.S. automakers and other marketers assume customer information is their property to do what they will with. This is the exact opposite of laws in place in Europe that stipulate the customer, not the company, owns and controls their information. How this differs from the data cell phone or internet companies or search engine companies routinely collect is also not clear.
If OnStar ever offers the option of a data connection after cancellation, it would only be when a customer opted-in, Marshall said. And then OnStar would honor customers’ preferences about how data from that connection is treated.
“We regret any confusion or concern we may have caused,” Marshall said.
