Dear readers: I just received this directly from OnStar regarding their data policy. I look forward to further discussion on the topic.
OnStar Statement Re:
New Terms & Conditions
The following statement can be attributed to Joanne Finnorn, Vice President, Subscriber Services”
“OnStar has and always will give our customers the choice in how we use their data. We’ve also been very open with our customers about changes in services and privacy terms.
“Under our new Terms and Conditions, when a customer cancels service, we have informed customers that OnStar will maintain a two-way connection to their vehicle
unless they ask us not to do so. In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as
tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations. Another benefit for keeping this connection “open” could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues.
“Of course, if the customer requests us to turn off the two-way connection, we will do as we have always done, and that is honor customers’ requests.
“Our guiding practices regarding sharing our subscribers’ personal information have not changed. We are always very specific about with whom we share customers’
personal information, and how they will use it. We have never sold any personally identifiable information to any third party.
“Keeping the two-way connection open will also allow OnStar to capture general vehicle information that could be used in future product development.
“We apologize for creating any confusion about our Terms and Conditions. We want to make sure we are as clear with our customers as possible, but it’s
apparent that we have failed to do this. As always, we are listening to our subscribers’ feedback and we will continue to be open to their suggestions and concerns.”
But I see a difference between information I freely provide versus information I don't know I am sharing.
@Barbara, I agree with your opinion. But I am not sure if companies would be willing to share the info how they are going to use the data they are collecting. So I guess the best way for the customer is to avoid sharing the data which he thinks is risky to share.
... so I'll just focus on the, "Do your customers know every bit of information you retain from them?" query.
My answer would be, "no, of course not!" And I think it would be rare indeed to find very many sophisticated, technology-focused businesses that could honestly answer "Yes" to this question.
Now all that being said, even if you did provide very easy-to-use and detailed opt-out instructions and information collection notifications, that doesn't guarantee that costumers would truly know that we're collecting information from them. It's very easy to just gloss over these types of things. For example, it's insanely common for people to just automatically accept the terms and conditions of anything they do online blindly, without even glancing at what those T&C's entail. I know I'm guilty of that myself!
But I do agree: clearly there is consumer demand for easy-to-use privacy and data control. And I think implementation of such policies would not be as harmful to the business as many may think, because I'm convinced -- if they trust your company -- the majority of users honestly do not care very much about these issues (as long as the data collected is not used to annoy them later, or intensely personal).
Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see where this discussion leads. Like you said, I think it's best if we avoid the ethical debate of whether it is right/wrong to collect such information, however.
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