Onstar Navigation System to Deliver In-Car Spam

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."

Comments

Well Well Spam even while travelling!

[itsnotme]

Well, apparently now you cant run to your car to hide from all that spam you get from the USPS and your email and your AOL email.. They've now got you! you go camping with your car, you're still going to get spammed.. seems to me that they've got every corner of the earth to be now non-spam-free.. unless you do go hiking into the wilderness.. but heck.. maybe they've got some trees hooked up to the net so you'll be spammed in the wilderness now too!

Isnt there any end to this spamfest?

Moderation Totals: Funny=+1 Insightful=+1 SpamComplaint=-1

I get enough spam from these people as it is

[buckeyeguy]

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

This will last right up until the first accident

[Dredd13]

Picture the scenario, you're concentrating on where you're going, because you've never been there before, its hectic traffic, somewhere in the city, where the ordeal of keeping track of pedestrians and cars is enough to deal with. Suddenly, your attention is jolted elsewhere by a voice in your car (you're alone), you take your eyes off the road to find the source of voice which says "Up ahead on the right is Foobar's. Foobar's is having a sale on diapers right now!"... by the time you realize its a crummy OnStar ad, and return your attention to the road, it's too late to notice the bicyclist chewing on your grill.

So when the bicyclist sues you, and you in turn pin it on OnStar, that's when this shit will be nipped in the bud.

Pay them, and STILL get spam?

[EvilStein]

I bet they're going to try the same tired line of "Well, in this dynamic market, we need to experiment with sources of revenue..blabla..."

They're *already* charging people something like $399/yr, in addition to the stuff being installed on your vehicle,and NOW they're going to try throwing ADVERTISEMENTS at you?

Screw *that* - I'll just drive around with my happy Garmin eTrex GPS unit. At least it doesn't feel the need to inform me of a sale at Macy's.

On the flip side, Onstar really CAN find most anything. Our crazy friend Bill called Onstar and asked "Where's the nearest tittie bar?" and we had the answer within seconds. Gotta love that kind of service. :-)

Re:Pay them, and STILL get spam?

[Lostman]

Oh my god.. what a new concept... how original..

These guys want you to pay for their service AND serve advertisements to you? I am betting in a few weeks we will see how AOL has filed suit against Onstar for stealing their business practices... they would be right of course -- who could claim prior art against AOL's practices?

Let's see here...

[trilucid]

This might not be all bad... take an example scenario for instance:

1. VA Linux, err... Systems... err, whatever they are nowaways sells all customer information on every /. user in existence to the OnStar folks.

2. Geeks everywhere are suddenly constantly notified (in that pleasant feminine voice) of valuable chances to spend their money:

• "There is a strip club off to your left. Those women like geeks."
  
  
• "Adult video store just around the corner!"
  
  
• "That iMac girl is real, and she's giving out table dances at the Fun Club downtown at eight o'clock!"
  
  
• "Your boss just installed Windows XP across the company network. Your BSD server is gone. Wouldn't you like to purchase a firearm at Ed's Discount Sawn-offs tonight?"
  
  

The possibilities are limitless. :)

We finally have it!

[jeffy124]

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.

AOL/OnStar collaboration

[Man of E]

Drive by the post office... You've got mail!
Drive by Harvard University... Get your PhD degree!
Drive by the bank... Make $$$ Fast!
Drive by the swimming pool... Get wet pussy now!

Thanks to OnStar and AOL, my daily commute is finally going to become fun again!

How's this different from radio?

[mangu]

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.

Re:How's this different from radio?

[ReadParse]

The difference from radio is enormous, and I struggle to imagine how anybody could make the comparison.

Radio is free. As you probably know, the government licenses broadcasters to use the airwaves, because the bandwidth is so limited (I mean bandwidth in the radio sense). This is also why the goverment tightly regulates that industry, limiting programming and requiring a certain amount of public service, such as news and other public service announcements.

Why would anybody do this? Because it's a fantastic tool that you can't just go out and buy or manufacturer. Within the government restrictions, you can provide whatever programming people want to hear and also play advertisements, which pays for all of the programming, and pays for everything else. Without commercials, radio doesn't exist.

No, you didn't "request" the ad. You turned on the radio and listened to the station's programming. This is not a new arrangement, and you knew the rules going in. Radio stations play commercials... that's the way it is. Before anybody mentions their local "commercial free" station as a response to this, any radio station of that sort only exists because it's a "sister station" of another station that DOES play commercials, and news, and PSAs, and everything else that the government and financial considerations require.

Back to OnStar. Having read the New York Times article, I have a different and more accurate understanding of it then the Slashdot headline provided. This is not as much "ads you didn't request", as it is information that you have specified you are interested in.

Re:How's this different from radio?

[praedor]

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.

A Database to Snoop With?

[Ieshan]

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

Driving By Spam...

[Cylix]

Lost again! Drat!

Oh please OnStar gods help me!

"Hello, OnStar BOFH here"

Yeah, I'm lost, I'm trying to find 1234 Bovine...

"No Problem Sir..."
""
"Up on your right there is a WalMart, do you see it?"

Uh, yeah, sure... but what...

"Pull into the parking lot so I might give you some indepth instructional proceedures."

OK...

"WalMart is having a special on Remington Pump Shotguns, they normally retail for..."

Wait, I need to get to...

"Sure, proceed north for 3 miles and I'll alert you when you reach THAT destination."

"On your right is a StarBucks giving a special discount to OnStar Customers!"

I really really need to get to 1234 bovine...
There is a really important meeting that I must attend, if I don't make it, it could mean the end of my career and all dreams!

"Oh that sounds important..."
""
""

Um, sir, this looks like the same walmart I was at an hour ago. My god, the meeting is over... I'm ruined! What is your problem!

"You've reached WalMart, home of the Wally arsenal collection! Your profile suggests this would be perfect"

AAAAARGG!

How much were those shotguns?

Re:No, YOU are a fucking idiot

[Dredd13]

Let's see: Radio - doesn't just spontaneously make noise after being silent. The driver of a car generally knows his radio is on and isn't distracted by it. The "guy selling flowers" is, of course, one of the various pedestrians and road objects the driver is "being aware of", and I hate to break it to you, but people HAVE gotten into legal entanglements because of cell phones going off, and there's various levels of anal-retentiveness surrounding cel-phones and driving....

Think first, then post, it'll make you seem a lot smarter.

They had that on Knight Rider

[selectspec]

.

K.I.T. Michael, there's a 40% discount sale at the "Spank Your Pants" Adult Bookstore in that strip mall to the right.

M. Knight Excellent Kit! Go to "pursuit" mode.

Re:Well Well Spam even while travelling! -Addition

[ncc74656]

your new bicycle at this rate will probably have spam too, and it'll be powered by you pedalling!

...and who's under the impression that no costs are incurred by receiving spam? "It took me forever to get across town on my bike because of all the goddamn spam that kept flooding in on my Acme bike computer..."

How long before procmail gets ported to OnStar? Hey, Linux has been ported to everything under the sun; why not procmail?

Information you can use!

[Junior J. Junior III]

Judging on the areas I have to drive through to get to work, I'll be receiving lots and lots of ads for where I can buy the purest heroin and the cheapest automatic weapons...

Re:will that even work...

[yesthatguy]

Oftentimes there will only be one person in the car and hence he/she wont be able to look down to see the ad.

OnStar is a voice system, not computer/LCD. There's a little button that basically places a cellphone call to a directory service, and also sends your GPS location. From there, you're talking to a real person (or, as in the case of ads, listening to a recording, like on the radio). There won't be a requirement to look anywhere in order to receive the information.

Now something more realistic (if it isnt there already) would be having the system allow a user to query information about nearby hotels, malls, restaurants, etc.

That's pretty much what OnStar's good for right now, aside from auto-calling in an emergency. You can press the OnStar button, and ask somebody where there's a hotel, gas station, movie theater, italian restaurant (and I think they can even make reservations), or as in an example another poster provided, the nearest tittie bar.

simple solution

[Lumpy]

Dont buy Onstar. Buy an aftermarket Nav system that isn't going to rob you blind monthly and then for the quarterly navigation disc updates. (Nothing like a forced upgrade.. your navdisks are too old, please replace them with a newer version...)

There are several Car computing/navigation systems out there. Hell if you want one that is cheap but the first one out there buy an autopc off of ebay. (Dont pay any more than $600.00 for a new one with gps and nav... I've seen them at the "super deals that cost $5.00 to get in" around here for $550.00 with software.)

The biggest problem with most of these navigation systems is that they use the really crappy maps from navtech corperation.. They make the worst map database on the planet... if the city is below 1,000,000 in population it isn't on the disc. and errors will stay there for years before they fix them.

The best nav-system I saw was a Q-pc car computing platform running linux and then running delorme with wine... it rocked, and the 4 year old disc database was perfectly useable if you were interested in addresses or routes...

only problem is that the Q-pc with display is about $3000.00.... ICK... anyone have a nice 4.5 inch 800X600 TFT lcd that can withstand -60degF and has touchscreen? I'll design the vehicle mounted computer. :-)

Re:First reaction

[aozilla]

My second reaction, upon seeing it is opt-in, is who's stupid enough to sign up for this?

The yellow pages is opt-in advertising, but people still use it every day to find out the locations of certain types of stores. All they have to do is get a large enough number of stores to participate so that I can say "Onstar, where is the nearest pizza place. Place an order for a large pepperoni pie.", and there will be plent of people signing up for it. Hell, I'd probably consider signing up for it, if it was free like the yellow pages.

Not to be a Luddite, but...

[rknop]

...this just confirms that "a map" may be the best navigation system out there, if only because it's quiet.

And "a book" may be the best way to read a book, because you can carry it with you and read it wherever, even without violating the law.

What I'm afraid of is the day where you can't get 99% of the books in paper, and where cars come with always-on navigation and "security monitoring" systems which blare ads at you without your ability to stop it.

I'm not afraid of technology. I'm afraid of the dunderheads we have running our world, and what they will do with technology (or anything else).

-Rob

Very misleading write-up

[CaptainSuperBoy]

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.

Pushing

[Faux_Pseudo]

In the ad world this is known as pushing. The concept is to put ads where you never got them before. Cell phone, pager, and car when the radio is off, etc. They want you to see ads in church, on the beach, in the shower, and NASA is working on allowing commercial sponsorship of space missions. Can you see the Pepsi logo on the side of a rocket? I can.
It will get much worse. You know that networked refrigerator they keep telling us is going to come? It too will have ads.
Free software has ads. Spending on advertising is going down as people become trained to ignore them. Just 10 years ago there where 2 less minutes of commercials per 30 minutes of programming. You now see 6 times the number of ads you did 10 years ago (sorry can't think of the source).

Ads are getting more intrusive by the day. Remember when you would get your receipt and it would have coupons on the back? Those are too easy to tune out. Now you get a separate piece of paper with coupons on it.

You used to buy something and it would come with a free gift. That free gift has turned into a discount somewhere else. More advertising.

When will this change? It won't. What can you do to avoid all of this? Nothing. Well nothing unless you live like I do, which is not recommended.
o Text based browser.
o No pager
o No cell phone
o TV is not plugged in
o no VCR
o no DVD
o Listen to NPR, the ads here are even getting an out of hand for "commercial free programming"
o don't own a car
You see fewer ads on the bus because you can bury your head in a book and not have you eyes locked on the road where all those billboards, A-frame signs, and faux-hot-air balloons are.
o Don't shop at the big stores. Hit the thrift stores and antique stores.
o Eat at mom and pop places and not places with BigThemePark adverts on the tray liners, YBotherBox adds on the drinks and movie tie ins on the to go bags.
o and the list goes on.

To explain, no there is too much, let me sum up: This should come as no surprise.