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Onstar tracking you even if you don't subscribe!

H3slate

Brush raked
Messages
983
Location
Tualatin, Oregon
http://gizmodo.com/5842317/onstar-w...nd-location-even-when-you-cancel-your-service


OnStar Is Tracking Your Speed And Location Even When You Cancel Your Service
OnStar is alerting customers of a change in its privacy policy that'll let the company collect the speed and location of any OnStar-equipped vehicle, even when the owner no longer subscribes to the monthly service.
According to spokesman Adam Denison, the company will keep this tracking active for the convenience of customers who wish to restore service. He also says the connection will remain open "unless the customer says otherwise".
Even more troubling is a little known section of the privacy policy that lets OnStar compile this GPS data and sell an anonymized version to government agencies, marketing companies and vehicle manufacturers. [OnStar via Wired]

Looks like you can get around this by calling Onstar and complaining so they stop tracking your speed and location.
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
I've pretty much given up trying to avoid hiding from the black 'copters. Phones, OnStar, loyalty cards, credit cards, computers - they all track what you do. Obviously OnStar can do more than a loyalty card but so can your smartphone and few people are giving those up despite the tracking "cost".
 

Steve #1

Well-Known Member
Messages
534
Location
TEXAS
I don't have a problem tracking me in exchange for better traffic data. I'm guessing this only applies to people who are active now but go inactive.
 

deserth3

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,069
Location
Conroe, TX
I've pretty much given up trying to avoid hiding from the black 'copters. Phones, OnStar, loyalty cards, credit cards, computers - they all track what you do. Obviously OnStar can do more than a loyalty card but so can your smartphone and few people are giving those up despite the tracking "cost".
I agree... Complaining about onstar tracking is like the small town in Nevada where people move "to live off the grid". Complaining when their cell tower goes down because their cell phones and internet don't work.
 

f5moab

Mr. Beretta
Messages
1,986
Location
Hiding in a potato patch in Idaho
Besides, they do not actively track you at all times. And if you want to completely disable, you don't have to remove the box, remove the big fuse that powers the box.

Only reason I keep Onstar is my GM discount makes it inexpensive, I can obtain a Verizon phone signal in areas where only Onstar can obtain service, and that, out here can be considered a safety device.

And as Alrocks hits at, if they want to track you, they can track you. Just view my debit or CC purchase for fuel and other items.
 

H3slate

Brush raked
Messages
983
Location
Tualatin, Oregon
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/onstar-abandons-plans-to-keep-tracking-vehicles-after-service-ca/
OnStar found itself at the center of a firestorm after it sent out an e-mail notifying customers that it planned to collect data from vehicles even after service had expired or been terminated. That is, unless the (soon to be former) users specifically opted out. Well, in a statement today, President Linda Marshall changed course and announced the post-subscription data collection would be opt-in only. The company still hoped some departing customers would volunteer to maintain a connection so that it can "provide former customers with urgent information about natural disasters and recalls affecting their vehicles." (They're just looking out for you buddy.) Even if OnStar loses out on boatloads of valuable data, at least the company won't have to listen to Chuck Schumer's public chastising any more -- that man lays a better guilt trip than your mother and grandmother combined. Check out the full announcement after the break.

:giggle: Looks like Onstar has had a change of heart. Now they will only track you if you ask them to.
 
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