INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s attorney general has sued General Motors and OnStar, accusing them of collecting and selling personal data to third parties with consent, just a couple of months after the Federal Trade Commission settled its complaint with the automaker and its subsidiary. The lawsuit, announced Thursday from the office of Todd Rokita, follows similar ones that the attorney generals of Arkansas and Texas have filed. The Arkansas lawsuit says GM and OnStar sold data that included the geolocation data, the GM app usage data, and the driving behavior data of more than 100,000 residents of the Southern state. Amid the states’ actions, multiple class action lawsuits have been filed against GM and OnStar over the same issues, arguing data was sold to LexisNexis without consent, potentially leading to increased insurance premiums. OnStar sells a subscription-based communications system in GM vehicles that offers, among its services, a link to emergency services and roadside assistance when needed, Wi-Fi connectivity, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics. As lawsuit began piling up, GM ended its business with LexisNexis and Verisk. In an agreement reached with the Federal Trade Commission announced Jan. 16, GM also eliminated the Smart Driver program in all of its vehicles, and started a review of its privacy processes and policies. It also created a process to allow consumers to submit a privacy request to last for 20 years. Indiana filed its 69-page lawsuit March 19 in Marion Superior Court 6, according to its time stamp. It alleged GM and OnStar violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act in selling telematics information — such as vehicle speed, hard braking events, and geolocation — from its Smart Driver system without consent. Then, third-party brokers used the data to create risk profiles and driving scores, which were sold to insurance companies. These companies, in turn, used the information to increase premiums or deny insurance coverage to consumers. “Defendants profited from its data mining and data sharing activities to the detriment of the very customers to whom their telematics technology and associated programs were advertised to help,” the Indiana lawsuit says. Indiana’s lawsuit also accused GM and OnStar of using deceptive “dark patterns” during the onboarding process to maximize consumer enrollment in their programs without fully disclosing privacy policies. The state wants a jury trial and, if successful, seeks civil penalties of up to $5,500 for each violation of the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Act. The lawsuit cites anonymous complaints from social media, reports from The New York Times, and other news sources. Indiana’s lawsuit does not say, though, how many complaints the state has received. However, in a news release issued Thursday, the Office of the Indiana Attorney General asks Hoosiers who believe they have been affected to file complaints online or by calling 800-382-5516. Rokita, a Republican, said in a statement in a news release issued Thursday, “Everyone deserves transparency and honesty from the companies they do business with, especially when it comes to having their data protected. General Motors and OnStar turned a supposed safety feature into a way to make money, profiting off Indiana drivers without their knowledge.” ...read more read less