General Motors, Tracking and Selling Your Movements
September 21, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
General Motors ‘OnStar’ GPS-Navigation systems have been available in new vehicles for a number of years now. Many of you already know what they are, that is, a mapping-tracking-emergency response system built into the vehicle. A big difference however between this GPS navigation-tracking system and an over-the-counter GPS that you might purchase separately or elsewhere is the ‘big brother’ that is watching you while you drive while driving with OnStar.
Don’t get me wrong, the emergency response aspect of OnStar is and has been life saving. I am not in any way disregarding the good that has come of it. However I am pointing out the potential abuse and ongoing encroachment of our free movements within the overall system enabled by modern technology. For example, a recent report, GM’s OnStar now spying on your car for profit, illustrates how the power of today’s technological advancements, while providing fantastic capabilities and conveniences, are continuing to further entrap and snare us in a system of knowing our every move – mostly for the sake of selective targeting and profit optimization.
“Now, OnStar says that it has the right to collect and sell personal, yet supposedly anonymous information on your vehicle, including speed, location, seat belt usage and other information.” reports autoblog.com.
How do you feel about Government-Motors knowing where you’ve been, when you went there, the stops you made along the way, how fast you got there, how long you stayed, etc…? While the advantages of having an externally monitored GPS tracking system can be a very good thing if you’ve become snarled in an emergency situation and need help that you cannot call for yourself, the opportunity for abuse is immense.
Given the fact that maximum profit and greed are of the utmost priority in today’s world of ‘not being satisfied with anything less than maximum’, then one should not be surprised to discover that a system like OnStar would sell your data. Maybe your insurance company will soon discover that you often drive faster than the posted speed limit, or that you drive more than the 10,000 miles per year that you claim on your car insurance. Or maybe they’ll notice that you left the bar late one night, so, you surely must have been under-the-influence… hey, after a pattern is established, they could set up a trap to snare you the next time… See where I’m going? Sure, it’s taking this all to an extreme, but this is the world we live in, or soon will be.
It’s really not a whole lot different from you submitting your supermarket card when you buy groceries in order to get your ‘discount’. The reason you get a discount is because the information about the things that you buy are sold to others. Again, sure, supposedly this data is anonymous, but to be honest, I don’t believe that in every case. Soon enough your health insurance rates may depend on the types of foods that you purchase, while at the same time one day you may not be able to purchase foods unless you submit your ‘card’. It’s not that far away. IMO.
While some may believe that these things will lead to a utopian world, where everything is balanced and perfectly fair, in reality it will be a world of slavery and ultimate control, one where you’ve been stripped of your liberties and freedoms.
In summary, I thought that this one example of OnStar selling your movements, is yet another step towards that world.
Update: (I read the following statement on another blog…)
I’m a police officer. The On Star customer who canceled his subscription is not enough. As long as the device is in the car, it can be remotely turned on. They (On Star) can locate your car at any time and listen in on what you are saying in the car and you will have no idea the device has been activated. We the police, can simple present exigent circumstances not even reasonable suspicion, or probable cause to request this information.
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This isn’t anything unique to OnStar. Every cell phone company knows every move you make and has a log of your life for every minute of the day. The paranoia about “Government Motors” is a bit overwrought given that, don’t you think?
You make my general point with your additional example of cell phone tracking (I only included the grocery store discount card example, but there are many many more). This (OnStar) is yet just one more example of how our technology is tracking us.
In Australia, government departments and quasi government departments including local councils are selling their data. You are just as likely to receive your drivers license renewal or council rate notice in the post with a bunch of targeted advertising.
I did some contract work to one company called “The Data Sellers” (no longer in existence). Their whole business model was mining personal data and selling it to targeted customers. They also ran a call center tied to one of those “24 hour continuous infomercial” T.V. channels. Insidious marketing techniques. (this was the early nineties before computer data info really hit the big time.
I absolutely agree Ken. When it first came out this is exactly what I said they would do with it. People do not realize just how pervasive this is in everything we do and how far reaching the information can ultimately be in our day to day lives.
Ao………. as for the cell phone stuff. That is true only if you want to play the game the way they want you to, which most of you do as you just HAVE to be in constant contact with people. How the hell did we ever manage before when we just had a phone and maybe an answering machine. Why do you all buy into this crap.
I have a cell phone and I am in a very remote area. It only works in some locations, service is very spotty dependant on being in a ‘high’ spot. I keep it off and turn it on when I want to use it. I have call answer and get the messages, if any, when I turn it on.
But the system has everyone convinced they have to be in constant contact and when the phone isn’t being yacked on, you need to be texting, and when that isn’t required you need to play games.
Get a grip on it people.
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yeah, with telecomms having blanket immunity to gather info for the NSA, i don’t see this as the next logical step. i’m not surprised at all. this was mentioned on the Sopranos when Tony got a new ride.
You all know what is next don’t you? It is called controlling the way you drive, anytime you speed, come to a rolling stop at a stop sign, whatever they can do to prove you are not a good driver to raise your insurance rates. Then comes the traffic tickets from the prove of some satellite that you committed some traffic infraction. Don’t think it could happen! As computers become more and more advanced and can take in more data, they become able to handle each individual. Whatever can bring in more profit and keep track of everything we do.
On star and other services are on a volunteer basis is fine, but what about the new vechicles that will be tracked? I say find the tracking device in you personal vechicle that you own and take a hammer to it, this is your own personal property. Really do some pounding of this garbage. How dare someone track you when you have commited no crime and you don’t want to be tracked. Freedom is choice and no one has a right to put tracking into your personal property with your consent. It is the first shot across the bow that leads to eventually people having something implanted into them to track the person themselves.
This makes me so angry to think that in any new vechicle there could be a tracking device that anyone could use for any purpose. Screw them. It is like you have already done something wrong with any monitoring device in your personal property. It is like an ankle bracelet that law enforcement puts on some criminal to know where they are. A person that has done nothing is watched without their permission is a fricken police state where you are guilty until proven innocent. This type of crap just infuriates me to hear. In China or the old USSR yes. In the U.S. land of the free, no way, I repeat NO WAY.
you always have the option of having any tracking system installed in a new car removed. Same with car radios, ect.
You can see this coming: mandatory large sails with your name on one side and ads on the other. Its the green-scene thing.
Couldn’t hackers break into the system and “follow” people as they drive their cars? Also, couldn’t foreign governments do this too?
Maybe at first, they’d do this to some movie star for fun, but later it could be anybody the government doesn’t like, wrong political party, gun owner, free speech, and so on.
There is always some power-crazed, mentally unstable politician who says this is for your own good. They must stay up nights masterbating in bed and thinking up crazy shit like this.