Insurance behemoth State Farm have tipped their hand about future plans to harvest customer data. According to documents received by the United States Patent Office (where 184 State Farm applications are currently being processed), the carrier plans to acquire data from vehicle on-board sensors (such as GPS location and video feeds for cars so equipped), and “share” that data with marketing partners.
State Farm’s privacy statement provides for the following: “We share information about you with companies that perform marketing or other services for us or with whom we have joint marketing agreements. These agreements allow us to provide a broader selection of insurance and financial products to you.”
State Farm has declined comment on the seemingly inevitable implementation of this system. Somewhere, George Orwell is wincing.
