Nebraska Attorney General sues GM over sale of customers' data

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers filed suit today against General Motors and its OnStar safety program, alleging they sold customers' data to insurance companies without their consent.

Hilgers announced his lawsuit, filed in Lancaster County District Court, during a news conference where he criticized the companies for selling data to insurance companies via third parties.

“That data included all sorts of things, including how fast you were driving, how hard your stops were, where you went, whether you had your seat belt," he said. "And they used that data to make decisions regarding people's insurance, both increasing people's insurance rates, but also, in some cases, canceling insurance rates."

Hilgers said the companies could have provided the information legally, if they had disclosed what they were doing, but they did not do so. He said he did not know how many customers were affected, but said GM had sold about 18,000 vehicles per year in Nebraska in recent years, and the practice had been going on since at least 2015.

Asked to respond to Hilgers, a General Motors spokesperson said "We remain committed to protecting consumers' privacy and will conduct a review of the complaint." In a statement earlier this year, the company said it had agreed to obtain consumers' consent, and had enhanced privacy protections.