This is from their own user agreement.
You consent to OnStar (i) using information about you, your Vehicle or your Vehicle's location ("Information") to administer Services, offer new products or services, enforce the terms of this Agreement, prevent fraud and respond to regulatory and legal requirements, (ii) electronically locating your Vehicle in conjunction with providing Services, (iii) locating your Vehicle if you are in default of this Agreement or any finance or lease agreement where the finance or lease company is authorized to repossess the vehicle, or to daily vehicle rental companies whose rental agreements provide for recovery of overdue vehicles and, in the latter case, providing the Vehicle's location to the creditor, lessor or rental company, (iv) providing Information to the Service Provider and/or law enforcement personnel for the purpose of providing Services hereunder or in response to a subpoena or other such legal process, (v) sharing Information with the Vehicle manufacturer and dealer in conjunction with the Services, (vi) using and sharing aggregate customer information and statistics that do not include information that identifies you personally, and (vii) transmitting through the Hardware advertising and promotional materials. Except as provided above, OnStar will not monitor your vehicle location.
Like Bonzai buddy for your car!
Onstar is evil
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Checkered-Member
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2003 Audi A6 2.7T (stock) - Contact:
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dr!ft
- Posts: 1489
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- Car: 1988 Isuzu Trooper II, wish it was a 240...
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Just imagine cruising down the street and... BAM! Pop-up. You try to close it, but BAM! - another just pops up in front of the first. This one's flashing like a bad episode of Pokemon. Could you be going crazy? BAM! Yet another occupies your short-term memory. At first, you think Man do I hate my computer. Then you realize that you are not on your computer, chatting on Nico. You're in your On*Star-equipped mini van, driving off the edge of a cliff. You became to pre-occupied with staring into the pop-up, that you forgot to drive. Life flashing before your eyes, the last thing you see before you depart this lovely world is... BAM! a pop-up advertising body lubrication for senior citizens.
:chicken
:chicken
dr!ft wrote:Just imagine cruising down the street and... BAM! Pop-up. You try to close it, but BAM! - another just pops up in front of the first. This one's flashing like a bad episode of Pokemon. Could you be going crazy? BAM! Yet another occupies your short-term memory. At first, you think Man do I hate my computer. Then you realize that you are not on your computer, chatting on Nico. You're in your On*Star-equipped mini van, driving off the edge of a cliff. You became to pre-occupied with staring into the pop-up, that you forgot to drive. Life flashing before your eyes, the last thing you see before you depart this lovely world is... BAM! a pop-up advertising body lubrication for senior citizens.
:chicken
Graphic.
yeah, and they can track you down if you owe money to creditors, or use your whereabouts (tallied over time I assume) to add to consumer statistics about whatever. That SUCKS. Pretty soon they'll be able to use it for speeding tickets and whatnot... just look up on the database if your on-star equipped car was speeding at the time the cop says you were... or worse, automatically dole out tickets if you break the limits... *shudder*
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MainEvent212
- Posts: 4182
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- Car: 95 Nissan 240SX SE w/ SR20DET+goodies
fiznat wrote:yeah, and they can track you down if you owe money to creditors, or use your whereabouts (tallied over time I assume) to add to consumer statistics about whatever. That SUCKS. Pretty soon they'll be able to use it for speeding tickets and whatnot... just look up on the database if your on-star equipped car was speeding at the time the cop says you were... or worse, automatically dole out tickets if you break the limits... *shudder*
That's not as far out as you think. There was a rental car company that was charging $80 to customers who broke the speed limit. Basically, in the rental agreement they signed, it was mentioned as a fine-able offense. What they failed to mention, however, was that their cars with GPS navigation systems were monitored to see what speeds they were driving. One customer got charged with 3 fines I believe - he took the company to court and won. Scary though.
There are all sorts of ramifications. They use "cellphone" technology to gather the data that the onstar machine collects. That means pretty much anyone could do it if they had the internet and some time to do research.
Also they cannot track your exact location with a cell phone. Only the approximate area (Which cell you are in) Onstar is probilby accurate enough to tell which house you are at.
Also they cannot track your exact location with a cell phone. Only the approximate area (Which cell you are in) Onstar is probilby accurate enough to tell which house you are at.
Dude, READ the f'in agreement. All it says it that can track your vehicle:i) for the purposes of enforcing their agreement with you (anything with onstar, I guess if your account goes into default), to offer you new services (do you really think they are gonna pop in and start bugging you while you are driving? and have someone sue them? give me a break), or basically to enforce any legal or regulatory issues, this would probably be something like mandated recalls and similar stuff.
ii) If you ask them to provide service to you, they will track your vehicle for you.
iii) if you bought, leased, or rented the car and you stop paying for it but keep driving it, they can locate you to recover the vehicle. That sounds prettty reasonable to me, too. Don't stop paying for a car you agreed to pay for.
iv) They have to track your car for the police if they get a subpoena. to get a subpoena there must be a substantial cause. And of course they have to do it if they get a subpoena.. they are required by law to comply with a subpoena. Don't commit felonies and count on using an XLR to run from the law.
V) They can share information with the manufacturer and the dealer. Nothing they don't do already with warranty information, and it probably helps dealers know when to send you maintenance notices, since I'm sure the majority of new ONSTAR users aren't DIY mechanics.
Vi) Sharing information that doesn't identify you personally. This just lets them use the data they might gather over time to accurately represent statistics for whatever purpose they want to. I don't really care as long as it doesn't identify me personally.
Vii) sharing advertising. This is the only one that would worry me in the slightest. What kind of advertising are they planning on sharing? now I can see if they shared information relevant to getting a GM vehicle serviced, like "now your GM dealer is offering a special on oil changes, only five dolla." But I wouldn't want to actually recieve promotions for ... just about anything else. Unless I mistunderstand the clause, and they are just saying that ONSTAR has the right to contact you about advertising. In that case it could be as simple as them telling you when you could save money by buying phone minutes for their phone system, or telling you to renew your ONSTAR subsciption. In that case, again, no problem with it. And i hope thats what that clause means. But its unclear, and I'd make sure I had it explained before I signed it.
ii) If you ask them to provide service to you, they will track your vehicle for you.
iii) if you bought, leased, or rented the car and you stop paying for it but keep driving it, they can locate you to recover the vehicle. That sounds prettty reasonable to me, too. Don't stop paying for a car you agreed to pay for.
iv) They have to track your car for the police if they get a subpoena. to get a subpoena there must be a substantial cause. And of course they have to do it if they get a subpoena.. they are required by law to comply with a subpoena. Don't commit felonies and count on using an XLR to run from the law.
V) They can share information with the manufacturer and the dealer. Nothing they don't do already with warranty information, and it probably helps dealers know when to send you maintenance notices, since I'm sure the majority of new ONSTAR users aren't DIY mechanics.
Vi) Sharing information that doesn't identify you personally. This just lets them use the data they might gather over time to accurately represent statistics for whatever purpose they want to. I don't really care as long as it doesn't identify me personally.
Vii) sharing advertising. This is the only one that would worry me in the slightest. What kind of advertising are they planning on sharing? now I can see if they shared information relevant to getting a GM vehicle serviced, like "now your GM dealer is offering a special on oil changes, only five dolla." But I wouldn't want to actually recieve promotions for ... just about anything else. Unless I mistunderstand the clause, and they are just saying that ONSTAR has the right to contact you about advertising. In that case it could be as simple as them telling you when you could save money by buying phone minutes for their phone system, or telling you to renew your ONSTAR subsciption. In that case, again, no problem with it. And i hope thats what that clause means. But its unclear, and I'd make sure I had it explained before I signed it.
Its really NOT that scary. They can use Onstar to tell you about more Onstar/GM products. Big deal.
GM just wants to cover their asses legally. Its in their best interest to "grant" themselves these rights without actually exercising them. It creates a legal buffer zone that keeps them in the clear, even if it doesnt always hold up in court. Read your XM agreement or an AOL agreement. Theyre all scary but the sky doesnt fall.
-Jesda
GM just wants to cover their asses legally. Its in their best interest to "grant" themselves these rights without actually exercising them. It creates a legal buffer zone that keeps them in the clear, even if it doesnt always hold up in court. Read your XM agreement or an AOL agreement. Theyre all scary but the sky doesnt fall.
-Jesda
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NIGHTfall_240sx
- Posts: 3521
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I'm not a troll. Read any of my other posts. I'm a nice guy. I just don't like people who "take offense" to things that I say because they don't take the time to understand them. If you are too stupid or lazy to even bother comprehending my post, don't just assume I was trying to insult you and say something stupid to me. Or I'll react. And basically, I can say whatever I want back to you when you are that lethargic/apathetic. Have a nice day.
You two chill. And OnStar is a great tool, since Escalade theft is booming. It'll get scary when they can monitor the driving habits of every driver, and fine you automatically. I think that's about the time the world will revert to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Since I don't own an Escalade, or any GM product made after 1968, I guess this worries me not. I think it's nice that GM has installed a tool that the consumer can use for one purpose, but serves an altogether different purpose for the finance company. Pay up sucka!
Since I don't own an Escalade, or any GM product made after 1968, I guess this worries me not. I think it's nice that GM has installed a tool that the consumer can use for one purpose, but serves an altogether different purpose for the finance company. Pay up sucka!
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Mr1der
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MainEvent212 wrote:dude, i'd kill myself if the world came to that
pssh, I'd get all Snake Blisken and be a gun fighter and what not then get the little thing that released all the emps from the satellites and hit the entire planet then ride off on my horse while managing to keep my cool coat...
still pretty lame, think I'd stick to a really nice Magellan GPS unit.
and learn how to read a damn map....
real men don't need no stinkin' directions.
andrave wrote:I'm not a troll. Read any of my other posts. I'm a nice guy. I just don't like people who "take offense" to things that I say because they don't take the time to understand them. If you are too stupid or lazy to even bother comprehending my post, don't just assume I was trying to insult you and say something stupid to me. Or I'll react. And basically, I can say whatever I want back to you when you are that lethargic/apathetic. Have a nice day.
You misunderstood my post i did not misunderstand yours. We are now both all pissy for no reason. Lets just go have a beer and forget the whole thing...:bearchug