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Onstar Navigation System to Deliver In-Car Spam

Posted by chrisd on from the key-reasons-not-to-use-onstar dept.

pneuma_66 writes: "According to the New York Times (Free reg, don't cha know) navigation systems, like OnStar, are planning to deliver ads based on the car's location. For example, the system will 'notify' the driver of sales in nearby stores. The vp of OnStar says "The privacy and the confidentiality of our subscribers are of the utmost importance", well lets see how the big companies play with this new wealth of information."

6 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. I get enough spam from these people as it is by buckeyeguy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    GM must think that OnStar is a big new cash cow, because since I bought my 2001 Grand Prix, they've not let up on the junk snail mail to home... wish they'd get the message.

    Online spam in the car? Ouch

    --
    I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
  2. We finally have it! by jeffy124 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    OPT-IN MARKETING!!!! I never thought I'd see the day merketers ask me if I want to see ads. Read the article and you shall see - the spamming requires you to sign up. Of course one already pays soemthing like 400/year for it, so i dont know how many people will jump for joy over this. Maybe if they cut the fee for signing up they'll get some people who will live with ads.

    --
    The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  3. How's this different from radio? by mangu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't mean the technical differences, but the fact that you are getting advertisements you didn't request. I suppose the next step will be to create the "Onstar Silver" system, where you can configure the type of ads you want to get, "Onstar Gold", where you can make queries about the nearest restaurants, etc, and the "Onstar Platinum" where you are given the choice of not receiving any ads.

    1. Re:How's this different from radio? by praedor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The BIGGEST difference is that no one knows when you are listening to radio, or even who you are. Your radio listening cannot be tied to you or your vehicle, etc. With OnStar, your vehicle is specifically and explicitely known, and with that YOU are known. A specific advert or move on your part in response to an add is instantly known of and tied to you directly in time and space. HUGE difference.

      --
      In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
  4. A Database to Snoop With? by Ieshan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, but here's the real question.

    Supposing OnStar can track where your car is, can't it also track acceleration and velocity and all that? I mean, supposing there's a sale at a Bob's Stores. It flashes the Ad.

    Now, supposing you slow down and turn into the Bob's Stores parking lot. OnStar, technically, could save this information as specific to your vehicle. An entry in their big database that says "Customer 84392 will respond to advertising in this catagory."

    What it all seems like is one big cyber-snoop service, tracking where you really are and advertising towards your patterns. A waste of car battery just like the new limewire ads are a waste of processing power.

    Now, OnStar could say they won't do this, but you know it'll happen. It's a perfect advertising scheme. They'd know exactly what kind of driver and shopper you were dependant on what stores and advertisements you listened to and responded to.

    Ieshan
    Predictor at Large

  5. Very misleading write-up by CaptainSuperBoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, OnStar is NOT going to deliver in-car spam. If you read the article, you'd read that 'OnStar, by far the biggest service with 1.5 million users, says it makes note of a car's location only in an emergency or when a driver makes contact with the service.' 'OnStar seems more interested in advertising that is tied to content.' The title of this story is blatantly incorrect, and the write-up is very misleading.

    Onstar is considering putting ads that are related to their content, such as ads for a brokerage if you're getting stock quotes. That's pretty far from 'in-car spam' based on tracking your location.

    The only thing in the article that resembles this is the 'gas station locator' by Wingcast, a service which hasn't even been launched yet. It would notify you when your car runs low on gas, and give you directions to gas stations. It's a useful feature, and I'm sure you'll have to sign up for it before they send you gas station ads.

    Personally I'd object to ads mixed in with a service that I paid good money for, even if they're not based on your location. For a few hundred dollars a year, I expect a service that's free of annoyances. A gas station locator isn't an annoyance, it's a feature.