Lawsuit: Allstate used GasBuddy and other apps to quietly track driving behavior

[usonian]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/allstate-sued-for-allegedly-tracking-drivers-behavior-through-third-party-apps/

Texas has sued insurance provider Allstate, alleging that the firm and its data broker subsidiary used data from apps like GasBuddy, Routely, and Life360 to quietly track drivers and adjust or cancel their policies.



..

According to Texas' complaint (PDF), the data collected included "a phone's geolocation data, accelerometer data, magnetometer data, and gyroscopic data, which monitors details such as the phone's altitude, longitude, latitude, bearing, GPS time, speed, and accuracy."

With that data—plus, in some cases, data from connected vehicles—Allstate could see when, how far, and for how long someone was driving, along with "hard braking events" and "whether a consumer picked up or opened their phone while traveling at certain speeds," according to the complaint.

Texas' lawsuit claims that Arity incentivized—through "generous bonus incentives"—apps like GasBuddy, a gas price-tracking app, and Life360, which is intended to keep tabs on family members' location, to "increas[e] the size of their dataset." Under their agreements with app makers, Arity had "varying levels of control over the privacy disclosures and consent language" shown to app users, according to the complaint.

The suit also cites Allstate as gathering direct car use data from Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram vehicles.

Discussion on Hacker News.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42699771


Pithy response:

Seems like the bigger part of the story is at the bottom. You can uninstall GasBuddy from your phone but finding and buying a new car that doesn't track you is a bigger hassle.

[XanaDUer2]

1. 2009 car

Fixing it. I do not use apps.

[House of Roberts]

2. I guess they could track me with my phone,

but how would they know I was driving the vehicle? My truck is too old to have any tracking capability, for corroboration.

[usonian]

6. You are unlikely to be taking a walk on a highway.

If you were, they goes your life insurance.

I believe that Google tracks your phone location to get traffic congestion maps. Maybe others.

Google has a privacy policy;

NONE

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Doesn't One Have To Have Location Turned On?

I have that turned off for all apps, even Maps.
It takes only a couple seconds to type in current location.
I have Location completely off in Settings.
If that's not on, an app can't track the phone, right?

[usonian]

12. You can be tracked by cell tower/home IP

not as finely.

But when you are looking for a gas station (or restaurant, even) location services are usually on.

I am very fussy in my settings, but are others so careful?

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Yeah, I Guess I Knew That

Just didn't occur to me earlier.
To be really stealthy, one would need to be in airplane mode.

[LeftInTX]

22. If you have location services turned off, telecoms still maintain records of tower pings.

An insurance company would not have that access to pings. Law enforcement can estimate locations of a defendant or victim by subpoenaing records from telecoms (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile etc) (This was used in the Idaho murder case)

This suit is about people who signed up for location services using apps other than Allstate's: Gas Buddy, Life360 (A family tracking app) etc.

It also about some of the location services that are installed in some vehicles. Toyota, Lexus,
Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram are named.

I believe the location services in the apps are satellite based, as opposed to pings which are cell plan based. Satellites use latitude/longitude as opposed to tower pings. So they are more accurate.

I believe some of the J6 rioters had their phones in airplane mode. Geofencing, which is a more advanced way of tracking, was then used. Airplane mode also uses satellite. Airplane mode does not cell tower pings.

Yes, a phone can be tracked while in airplane mode if GPS is enabled. Airplane mode turns off cellular data and Wi-Fi, but it doesn't turn off GPS. GPS uses satellites to determine a phone's location, which can still work even when airplane mode is on.
https://www.wikihow.com/Does-Airplane-Mode-Turn-Off-Location

Maps and geolocation work in airplane mode! I use MiniVAN (Democratic Party app) in airplane mode all the time. MiniVAN relies on geolocation and maps. Airplane mode conserves battery use and that's the main reason I use airplane plane

https://www.ngpvan.com/blog/canvassing-with-minivan/

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Learned Something New

Do I have to have a GPS app (i don't have one) or is that something built into the operating system?

[LeftInTX]

24. I'm pretty sure GPS is built into phones. That's how Google maps works out of the box.

https://www.androidauthority.com/turn-off-gps-1040167/

If you don’t want to turn off location services altogether, you can also turn off the use of precise location. This will avoid using GPS, but still get an estimated location using other data.

Other data would likely be cell phone towers.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. I Was Wondering If...

...it was the OS or in Maps.
Or perhaps Google, because we can search for "XXX Near Me"
But, when I do use Maps, it doesn't come up with the starting point.
If GPS was part of the OS, I'd expect Maps to default to where I am.
All speculation, since I don't actually know.

[LeftInTX]

26. All I know, is when I open maps, I see a location pin

If GPS is disabled, I don't believe the blue pin would move in airplane mode.

When I'm flying, I determine my location simply by opening Google maps because it is satellite based. (GPS ) The blue pin moves with the plane. It's best to open the map before you put it in airplane mode as this allows the software to load.

If GPS is disabled, Google maps probably wouldn't work in an airplane or airplane mode.

I guess one way to determine if GPS is disabled, is to put your phone in airplane mode, drive around and see if the blue pin moves? Don't know but worth a shot.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. I Don't See Said Pin

If I put in a start & destination location, then I see them.
Maybe my GPS is disabled.

[LeftInTX]

18. Yes, there is an On//Off. I believe the default is Off

I turned mine On, so I could track myself!
( I will try to remember/document the date I was either here or there and get a date. I do political volunteer work and try to remember when I was at an event or protest etc)
I also turned my ON in case anything happens to me. ( I'm an old lady)

OK, I'm weird!

Location History is Off by default. We can only use it if you turn Location History on.
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?sjid=18185712779932293085-NC

I have an Android.

Other maps/apps/vehicle installed GPS may be different.

[House of Roberts]

17. So I'm riding in a car someone else is driving,

and they are tracking my phone location by nearby towers, how will they know it's not me driving? I could be in an Uber, or a bus, or on a bicycle for that matter.

[usonian]

19. Listening?

Apple is about to settle $$ for Siri listening w/o consent.

[patphil]

3. Apparently only some car makers allow insurance companies to access vehicle data.

Will they decide that people who drive cars from companies that don't provide data should be charged more money for their insurance?

[TheBlackAdder]

5. I wonder if Musk's Starlink sells off the Subaru data.

[usonian]

7. They are diffrrent, same name.

https://carglassadvisor.com/is-subaru-starlink-the-same-as-starlink/

My 2018 has nothing of the sort.

[TheBlackAdder]

15. Cool, thanks. I just assumed due to trademark issues.

My 2017 OB has it.

Perhaps that's why Musk didn't do a Sir Richard Branson and sue every company with Virgin in their name to get exclusivity to the name, from small shops to large--even if they were using the name first. The threat of a lawsuit got many to abandon the word virgin in their branding because they could not afford the litigation.

Subaru must have had it first. I wonder if Subaru could sue Musk.

[usonian]

16. Then you're not driving a steak house.

Of the same name.

I have a Forester.

[Bluethroughu]

28. Please Subaru do!

I have been looking at how to remove it from my Subaru, but if it is not Musk's, then I'm in a great mood!

[patphil]

9. I would think that anything that goes through Starlink is fair game for Musk.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Fuck that! This is all about your car spying on you and the manufacturers selling that info off.

[maxsolomon]

8. Just bought a Toyota.

You can decline the tracking that reports your driving behavior.

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. Could it tell if the policy-holder was a passenger in someone else's vehicle, or a passenger in *

* a taxi, uber, or bus?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Probably, but would not be able to tell if someone else was driving while customer using phone as passenger. . nt

[RANDYWILDMAN]

20. Who could not see this coming

insurance is a business that tries to make money by denying service to the policies they supposedly wrote....not a long term sustainable process unless they cut some corners or cancel some policies that expose their risk or gouge some customers.

Example: a California company charged somebody 4,500 for fire insurance and then last year changed the rate to 18000, Either buyer gives up or they gouge this customer, then when buyers who house burns down then pay 60 cents on the dollar and the customer can't rebuild their house and they sell it to a private equity development company....circle of life

[LeftInTX]

21. So, I'm reading the complaint. I'm thinking this applies to consumers who used certain apps.

Last edited Tue Jan 14, 2025, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Consumers who downloaded apps that use Arity software, had their geolocation data shared with Allstate without their permission.

https://arity.com/industries/auto-insurance/



So is the complaint about consumers who didn't have the Allstate app, but had the Gas Buddy app? (Sharing data without permission)

I'm wondering if the complaint includes those who signed the TOS with the Allstate App? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allstate.view&hl=en_US&pli=1


There is also a complaint about this app https://www.life360.com/ca/



To potentially account for the Arity Data’s limitations, Defendants sought to
combine the SDK Data with data collected directly from vehicles. As a result, Defendants began
purchasing consumers’ driving-related data from car manufacturers, such as Toyota, Lexus,
Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram
On information and belief, consumers did
not consent, nor were otherwise aware that, Defendants purchased their driving-related data from
these car manufacturers.