Wyden Investigation Reveals New Details About Automakers’ Sharing of Driver Information with Data Brokers; Wyden and Markey Urge FTC to Crack Down on Disclosures of Americans’ Data Without Drivers’ Consent
Wyden and Markey: ‘It is particularly insulting for automakers that are selling cars for tens of thousands of dollars to then squeeze out a few additional pennies of profit with consumers’ private data’
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and hold responsible automakers and their data broker partners, for disclosing data on millions of Americans, without consent in a letter today. An investigation by Wyden revealed new facts regarding automakers’ disclosure of driving data, such as sudden braking and acceleration, to data brokers for subsequent resale to insurance companies. General Motors (GM) also confirmed to Wyden’s office that it shared customers’ location data with two other companies, which GM refused to identify.
The senators’ letter to the FTC included new details about GM, Honda, and Hyundai’s sharing of drivers’ data with data brokers, including details about the payments the data broker Verisk made to automakers. Based on information Wyden obtained from automakers, the senators revealed:
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Hyundai shared data from 1.7 million cars with Verisk, which paid Hyundai $1,043,315.69, or 61 cents per car;
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Honda shared data from 97,000 cars with the data broker Verisk, which paid Honda $25,920, or 26 cents per car;
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Automakers used deceptive design tactics, known as “dark patterns,” to manipulate consumers into signing up for programs in which driver data was shared with data brokers, for subsequent resale to insurance companies.
“The problematic practices we have uncovered and documented in this letter are likely just the tip of the iceberg,” Wyden and Markey wrote in the letter to Chair Khan. “We focused our oversight efforts on automakers’ relationship with one specific data broker in order to determine if there is a problem that warrants further oversight by federal regulators. Verisk has publicly confirmed it sold driver data from three automakers, but the media has reported that other data brokers, like LexisNexis, are still selling driver data.”
In January, the FTC took action against two data brokers that sold location data collected from smartphone apps without consumers’ informed consent. The senators urged the FTC to apply this precedent and to hold the automakers responsible for their disclosure of driver data to the data broker Verisk, and to hold Verisk responsible for its subsequent sale of driver data to insurance companies.
“The FTC should hold accountable the automakers, which shared their customers’ data with data brokers without obtaining informed consent, as well as the data brokers, which resold data that had not been obtained in a lawful manner. Given the high number of consumers impacted, and the outrageous manipulation of consumers using dark patterns, the FTC should also hold senior company officials responsible for their flagrant abuse of their customers’ privacy” the senators added.
The privacy practices of automakers have been under increased public scrutiny this year. The New York Times published an investigative series into automakers’ sharing of driver data with data brokers. In April, Wyden and Markey released the results of an investigation into automakers’ disclosure of location data with law enforcement agencies.
The senators today also published an updated chart summarizing the results of that April investigation, to reflect new information received from Volvo Cars, indicating that the company now requires a warrant for customer location data.
The text of the letter is here.
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