Opinion

OnStar markets ‘family-friendly’ spy system

Font Size:

George Orwell’s dystopian society in which privacy is a thing of the past is now a step closer to becoming reality, thanks to a “family-friendly” service recently rolled out by OnStar.

According to an article from Wired magazine, General Motors is now marketing its “OnStar” GPS tracking system as a family-friendly way for parents to secretly track the locations of their kids and spouses. Perhaps the system ought to be sold with the slogan “the family that spies on each other stays together.”

General Motors has been offering the OnStar tracking system for a number of years. Previously, it was marketed as a way for someone who was involved in an accident or locked something in his car to call for help. Law enforcement has always like OnStar, because it can be used to surreptitiously listen in on conversations taking place in vehicles equipped with it.

The service now provides two specific features that allow subscribers to track family members on OnStar’s website, for the low price of $3.99 a month. Through the “Vehicle Locate” feature, a subscriber can pinpoint the location of a vehicle on his account, as well as “additional details”; GM has not said what those additional details are. And through the “Family Link” service, parents can receive either text messages or emails to let them know the location of any vehicle on their account.

Of course, if it’s possible for you to track the location of your vehicles through OnStar, it’s possible for other people to track the location of your vehicles as well.

This is not the first time that OnStar has raised serious privacy concerns. Last year, General Motors rolled out new “terms and conditions” for OnStar users that allowed the service to retain and share information collected from subscribers with third parties, even after a subscriber has canceled his subscription.

However, thanks to pressure from customers and privacy groups, OnStar partially reversed course, declaring it had decided not to collect the data of former customers.

“Family Link” may be a whiz-bang, high-tech idea that brings peace of mind to concerned “helicopter parents” and suspicious spouses. And police officers, political operatives and private investigators already have recognized its value to their work. Still, consumers and manufacturers shouldn’t rush to adopt such systems until privacy safeguards have been developed. Some people may find out too late that a little convenience and peace of mind comes with a hefty price tag.

Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He provides regular commentary to Daily Caller readers.