HARRISBURG, Pa., AND TRENTON, N.J. – Pennsylvania and New Jersey will get millions of dollars as part of a settlement agreement with General Motors regarding consumer data sharing, officials announced Thursday.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania will receive $8.67 million, and New Jersey will receive $8.9 million, according to the states\u2019 respective attorneys general.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport joined a coalition of 36 attorneys general in reaching the multistate settlement, their offices said.<\/p>\n
The settlement resolved allegations that General Motors illegally sold consumers\u2019 private driver behavior and location data to third parties, including data brokers, who then sold the data to insurance companies, according to news releases from Sunday and Davenport.<\/p>\n
\u201cPennsylvanians deserve transparency and honesty about how their personal data is collected, shared, and used,\u201d AG Sunday said.<\/p>\n
The settlement requires General Motors to get consent from consumers before collecting or disclosing driving and location data, Sunday\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Officials say General Motors enrolled millions of drivers in their Smart Driver program, which tracked their driving habits. The program was pitched as a driver safety tool, the AG said, and drivers were not told their data would be shared with insurers.<\/p>\n
Information included how many times a person drives their car, the start and end times of each drive, how fast a driver goes, and how many times they brake or accelerate, according to a news release from AG Davenport\u2019s office.<\/p>\n