GM's onstar unit alters privacy policy

General Motors Co.'s OnStar vehicle navigation service revised its customer-data policy in a way that appears to “violate basic principles of privacy and fairness,” two U.S. senators wrote in a letter to the company.

OnStar told customers in an e-mail this week that it may continue collecting data from vehicles of subscribers who have canceled the service. Customers must contact OnStar to halt the data collection under the policy change effective Dec. 1, according to the e-mail.

Democratic senators Al Franken of Minnesota and Christopher Coons of Delaware objected to the change in a Sept. 21 letter to OnStar that urged the company to reconsider its data policy.

“OnStar is telling its current and former customers that it can track their location anywhere, anytime -- even if they cancel their subscriptions -- and then give or sell that information to anyone as long as OnStar deems it safe to do so,” the lawmakers wrote.

OnStar will respond directly to the senators, OnStar spokesman Adam Denison said. He declined to say when the company would reply or share details of its response.

OnStar delivers navigation and security features such as emergency assistance to GM cars using the global-positioning system. The service has more than 6 million customers in the U.S., Canada and China, according to the company's website.

Franken and Coons asked the company whether it has experienced any leaks of customer information and what it does to protect such data. The senators said OnStar's actions underscore the need for legislation to protect consumer information online including people's location.

“OnStar's actions appear to violate basic principles of privacy and fairness for OnStar's approximately six million customers -- especially for those customers who have already ended their relationships with your company,” the senators wrote.

Franken introduced a bill in June that would require companies such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc. and mobile- application developers to obtain permission from mobile devices such as smartphones before collecting location data and sharing that information with third parties.

Franken, who chairs the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law, held a May 10 hearing on mobile privacy with executives from Apple and Google.

His location bill is co-sponsored by Coons and Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Richard Durbin of Illinois, and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, along with Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, Coons spokesman Ian Koski said in an e-mail.