Data-Driven: Consumer Disclosure Report exposes not just home addresses, but driving habits
“Unfortunately, right now in America, there’s very little law around who controls that data. Consumers don’t have a lot of rights in law that say this is your data and you can control it,” Brooks said.
He does believe, however, that if the information isn’t identifiable, it could be helpful to keep the roads safe.
By Daniela Molina and Rachel DePompa
October 28, 2024
With dedicated careers in the nonprofit sector, Ryan Bates and his wife never expected the first car they purchased to be a high-tech, electric vehicle.
“We really like the car. We like being able to charge it up here at home,” Bates said.
What they didn’t know, however, was their brand-new 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV, with its innovative features, would also be gathering a wealth of information about their driving habits.
After seeing several news reports alleging Chevy was monitoring customers who purchased its cars, Bates decided to reach out to a data broker, LexisNexis, to request his consumer disclosure report.
That’s when Bates learned his car salesman had signed him up for a free OnStar subscription from Chevy’s parent company, General Motors, meant to help with in-vehicle safety, security, and navigation.
But Bates wasn’t aware that the subscription’s terms of use/agreement/fine print meant his vehicle would also be collecting his day-to-day driving activity – something he likened to “spying,”
“I was able to call LexisNexis, put in a request for my file, and what came back was 200 pages,” Bates said. “[It shows] every time I’d brake a little bit, every time I accelerated a little fast.”
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