Wanna Know How GM Spied on Your Driving? Buckle Up, It's INFURIATING

Okay, remember that whole mess with GM selling our driving data? Turns out, even a reporter who was ON this story got caught in it... she thought she'd opted out, but NOPE. And she's far from alone.

Here's the deal:

• Spying, But Make It Cute. It's called "Smart Driver", supposed to give you driving tips. Except, a lot of us got signed up WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION.
• Insurance Companies Got the Goods – Like every trip you took, your braking habits, the whole thing. Ever wonder why your rates went up for no reason? Might be GM's fault.
• The Sneaky Trick: Turns out, car dealers get pressured to enroll EVERYONE in OnStar. The reporter's salesman admitted he basically signs people up without asking, it's automatic.
• Blame the Tiny Screen: They hide the actual sign-up behind this mess of screens during the paperwork rush. One of those screens secretly enrolls you in Smart Driver, even though the sales guy will say NO about insurance tracking (cause that's a separate program). It's seriously shady.

Some folks only figured this out because their insurance skyrocketed. That's when they got those creepy data reports. Think about it – regular people probably have NO IDEA this is happening! Loads of people got affected, some even saw their rates DOUBLE after buying a GM car.

Good news is, the backlash got so bad that GM finally did a few things:

• Killed the Program (For Now): They say they're not doing "Smart Driver" anymore
• Dropped the Data Brokers: So they stopped sharing with those companies in March... nice of them ?
• Oops, We Need Privacy Help: They hired a fancy new privacy officer, probably cause they got scared of lawsuits.

So, how'd this happen in detail? Buckle up, it's infuriating:

• That Free Tech: Turns out, new GMs come with free OnStar for ages. Seems cool, but that's how they get ya.
• The Salesman's Hustle: This reporter's dealer straight-up said his pay gets docked if he doesn't sign enough people up for OnStar.
• The Click-Through Trap: Apparently, the signup screens are designed to be confusing. You gotta agree to OnStar, then agree to some texts (which everyone does), and THEN it sneaks in the Smart Driver signup all sneaky-like. Dealers often click through this as fast as possible, so you never even see it.

It's shady as hell. Makes you wonder what ELSE car companies are doing with our data without us knowing. Gotta stay on our toes out there!