OnStar Reverses ToS Changes 90
First time accepted submitter BlackWind writes "It seems that even Government Motors is smart enough to figure out when they've gone too far. GM announced that the OnStar service will revert to their previous Terms of Service in the wake of the firestorm of criticism that their plan to sell GPS data created."
Political theatre (Score:3)
I'd bet GM will be making an extra large contribution to Schumer's campaign this year. If Schumer was really serious about doing anything but shaking down GM, he would have introduced legislation prohibiting vehicle tracking. But that's not going to happen obviously.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd bet GM will be making an extra large contribution to Schumer's campaign this year. If Schumer was really serious about doing anything but shaking down GM, he would have introduced legislation prohibiting vehicle tracking. But that's not going to happen obviously.
Like that would get through with the way Republicans are right now. Rand Paul would hold it up arguing that the government is denying corporate freedoms by not allowing OnStar to forcefully ID chip every person that ever rides in a car with OnStar in it.
Re: (Score:3)
Why slam republicans for hypothetically stopping something the democrats would never start?
Analyze the situation. The problem is not the other political party, it's a government that puts itself and its campaign sponsors above its citizens.
Re: (Score:3)
Blame an electoral system that has candidates out campaigning and having to raise money a year + out from the actual election date. Running a campaign that long takes boatloads of money.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not about the length of the campaign, it's about the intelligence of the electorate. Anybody influenced by a tv commercial, a yard sign, a bumper sticker, or a hairdo is intellectually unqualified to vote.
Re: (Score:2)
" Hope and Change" and "Change we can believe in"
Nuff said
Re: (Score:2)
> Nuff said
C'mon, Archangel Michael. As commander of God's army, I'd like to think you can do better than plagiarizing a randomly selected Yahoo! comment. How about something unexpected, like "Row, row, row with Roosevelt?"
Re: (Score:2)
Just sayin. -- stolen from my daughter who probably stole it from one of her friends.
Better?
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it's all good now. Thanks.
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you blame the government, which at least in the U.S. is made up of us, instead of those "sponsors" that have spent billions to influence it to our detriment?
When there is an attack on institutions, why would you blame the institution? Our government has been a victim of an all-out campaign to corrupt and control it by a group of abstract corporate entities (only some of them
Re: (Score:3)
If that pump was expected to handle the pollution. Yes.
Did someone remove greed from the human psyche yesterday, and Slashdot simply refused to post a story about it? I think not. Therefore, a functioning government should be able to withstand assaults from both greedy corporate directors, entitlement recipients and labor unions.
It's not a matter of someone poisoning the water. The water has been poisoned since Cain hit able over the head with a rock (substitute analogy from your favorite genesis story)
Re: (Score:2)
I think the government can handle all those. What it is having trouble with is a corrupted rogue majority in the Supreme Court who have been co-opted by a level of greed and power that the founders did not anticipate.
With Citizens United, we entered a boundary condition where the influence of corporate power will accelerate faster than the institutions of government ca
Re: (Score:2)
Andrew Jackson was a scumbag wealthy slaveowner, a member of the aristocracy who portrayed himself as a "regular guy" - the kind you'd want to have a beer with. He was responsible for the political spoils system, turning public service into political service where every president gets to fire a big chunk of every public worker down to mailman and hire his cronies and supporters, thereby eliminating the concept of competence in government and creating the patr
Re: (Score:2)
> Why do you blame the government, ...
> instead of those "sponsors"
That would be like blaming wolves for being wolves. do what you will with them, but they'll still be wolves.
> When there is an attack on institutions, why would
> you blame the institution?
Because the institution swore to defend us and itself, and then set a table with raw pork, invited the wolves inside, and dropped their pants and mated.
This government is no longer of the people, and won't be until we re-assert ourselves and st
Re: (Score:2)
Absolutely. Why would anyone expect the government to care when people don't.
I disagree though, about the government no longer being "of the people". I think we're getting a perfect reflection of ourselves.
What will never be a reflection of ourselves, though, is the 21st century corporation. It is a machine, a golem. Nothing human or humanly frail about it. A hungry automaton. Capable of devouri
Re: (Score:2)
> Republicans are pure, unadulterated evil.
Humans are incapable of purity, be it for good or evil.
This sort of talk is neither accurate nor helpful. We're all fallible humans fumbling our way through life, and there's little point in playing along with pigeon-holing, stereotyping, or dividing others into "us vs them".
The only difference between Republicans and Democrats is which subset of reality they choose to acknowledge.
Re: (Score:1)
Schumer doesn't need campaign funds. He's elected for life in a district of drones who feel that just by virtue of being from where you are from, you vote for Schumer.
Re: (Score:2)
Government Motors has friends in high places, especially these days. There are no real rules that apply to a corporation that large and that deeply in bed with the ruling party, there are only suggestions, favors to be exchanged, horses to be traded.
Look at General Motors getting bailed out, while Ford didn't, and then they get the White House to pressure Ford not to point this fact out in advertising.
Look at the exceptionally well-connected General Electric, not only not paying any taxes but getting paid b
Re: (Score:3)
I'd bet GM will be making an extra large contribution to Schumer's campaign this year. If Schumer was really serious about doing anything but shaking down GM, he would have introduced legislation prohibiting vehicle tracking. But that's not going to happen obviously.
Nice to see the thinking at GM has survived since the 1980's when "If it sounds like a stupid idea, let's do it" seemed to be the company motto. I don't think there's a need for legislation as present laws, it present laws are properly observed and enforced.
Re: (Score:2)
If GM didn't back off and Schumer suddenly went silent, you might have a point, but that's not what happened.
Re:smart idea (Score:5, Funny)
Given that the vehicles being tracked are all GM vehicles, we should be able to parlay this data into the most intricate map of North American breakdown lanes ever produced.
Re: (Score:2)
Never mod points when you need them.
Will this stop them? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Dear OnStar, (Score:2)
Dear OnStar (and anybody AT&T else thinking GOOGLE about doing FACEBOOK something similar):
Did you really think we wouldn't notice?
Love,
The People Who Are Watching Your Smug Privacy-Raping Asses
Re: (Score:3)
Dear The People Who Are Watching Your Smug Privacy-Raping Asses,
Do you really think we care if you notice?
We'll introduce this again in a year or two and you'll notice again but there will be half as many complaints and we'll withdraw it. The time after that there will be even less complaints we will push it through.
Love,
Onstar.
P.S. Do you remember when you didn't need to get a pat down to board a plane? When you didn't have to give the government advance notice of your international travel plans? When corp
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/ [tsa.gov]
Only when flying (and I guess lots of Americans travel over land not being an island, unlike where I'm from), Actually I see no mention of being restricted to international, maybe the US airlines just do it for you under the covers while when I've flown from the US on a non-US airline I had to that out after buying the ticket.
Re: (Score:2)
Average Joes didn't notice. A bunch of geeks and one politician noticed. We got lucky, that's all.
I wondered as I sat on hold for 20 minutes... (Score:4, Interesting)
Initially, I read the TOS very quickly, and didn't notice the rewrite specifics. Due to reading the actual TOS a second time, I called all the way from Europe to cancel the service on my car that sits idle (pardon the pun) in Southern California. When I get back, I plan to rip the RF device out of the car.
Insurance can't be trusted, and I know they'll be buying the data. Geo spatial analysis will make it insanely easy to un-anonimize the data, and as we've seen very recently, when a company is bought or sold, the new owners like to re-define the rules of engagement. Right now, insurance asks for all your medical data during a claim, what's to stop them from pooling, analyzing, and/or asking for this data pertaining to your driving? Nothing.
The interesting thing is the On-Star support person said three times, "The information is only released with your consent." I replied all three times, "That's what your old TOS said. With all due respect, I appreciate your efforts, however I have an exceptionally firm grasp of the English language, and it very specifically states the data can be sold at GM's discretion OR with my consent. Please cancel."
Hmmm...oh well... It's sorta funny they actually corrected course. Netflix obviously didn't learn this lesson or execute a course correction nearly as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, Duh (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Eh. I'm not going to let that keep me from owning a car that I want. What I DID do is disconnect the coax to the satellite and cell antenna. Now it just has a red "I can't talk to the mothership" telltale in the rearview mirror frame.
Re: (Score:2)
If you buy new, be sure to not only have the entire cost of the onstar system itemized and then removed from the total, but also an additional amount for the trouble you'll have to go through to make sure it's disconnected and really unable to talk to the mother ship. You should probably take a bit more off due to the "free" first few month's service since they must have tacked that cost on somewhere.
Come on. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Come on. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah. "Government Motors" is clearly namecalling, and an insult... but sometimes insults are deserved, at least for a while. People need to remember that GM failed, and only exists because it leeched off tax dollars. Ford didn't. That gives me a hell of a lot more appreciation for Ford's management.
Re: (Score:2)
my Ford has 268k miles on it with no major repairs
Is it an F-150?
Plus (Score:2)
Re:Come on. (Score:4)
Re: (Score:2)
If RedState or DKos said drinking rubbing alcohol was bad, would you immediately run to the medicine cabinet for a swig?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing good can come from propping up failed companies. So much of what is wrong with capitalism in America comes just from that. Capitalism needs failures, and executives who drive companies into the ground need to fail - golden parachute or not, they won't be given the chance to destroy another company if the first one fails hard enough.
Similarly, investors in terrible companies need to lose all their money to the people shorting those companies, so that future inventments will be made by smarter peopl
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You know, you've got a perfectly good summary going on an important issue, and you go and make yourself look like a child by calling General Motors "Government Motors". Why?
Because GM is now owned by the government and management decisions are made in Washington. Even if the government has sold its stock in GM, the way the "bailout" was executed, it is obvious that the conditions of ownership are at the discretion of the President.
Re: (Score:1)
No Fair! (Score:2)
Reading the title of this one, and not knowing who or what OnStar are, I completely thought this was about The Original Series.
Bummer. Dude. Seriously? No Shatner?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Only partial reversal? (Score:5, Interesting)
From what I read in TFA, they only reverted the part where they continue to track you after you've canceled I saw nothing about them changing their minds about selling your data.
The TOS changed...? (Score:2)
Just because the ToS changed doesn't mean they're still not going to collect and sell all that data. Now it's just not in the ToS and they'll be a little quieter about who it goes to.
Re: (Score:1)
Question: Didn't they know this would happen? (Score:2)
no more need (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Just how anonymous can the data be? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
From demonstrated practice, they can change the TOS, sell the data, then revert the TOS. No way to ever know what they give themselves permission to do.
look on the bright side (Score:1)
The backlash and negative PR actually had an effect.
OnStar is lame (Score:2)
OnStar is lame, sorry but it is. They've tried to stay relevant by adding "services" which are overpriced and overrated. Sure, they can tie into your OBDII system and let you know if you have a problem, but you also have a check engine light too which for most of us indicates that there's something that needs to be done.
I pulled my OnStar box out and replaced it with another device that now allows me to use my Bluetooth integrated devices in my car so this ToS change didn't bother me, but what does bother
Onstar and continued monitoring (Score:1)
When the initial term is up, I would not mind continuous monitoring. If the vehicle was stolen, could they locate it. At that point I would pay a finders fee.
No OnStar for me, thanks. (Score:1)
If I ever get a car that has OnStar in it, the cables are getting clipped and equipment removed.
These devices (on most cars) have the ability to receive disable signals from the service, in the unfortunate case of being involved in a police chase (LOL). Seriously, no thanks. Wires clipped, in the trash. I'll paint the button a different color.
Punny Headline should have been... (Score:1)