Mal Leary reports from Maine:
Those handy GPS devices that help you find a restaurant while driving around on vacation can also be used to track your car wherever it goes. Who has access to that tracking ability is of growing concern to state officials in the wake of a query by a finance company to put GPS devices in vehicles it finances.
The State Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection confirmed that it recently received a query from an out of state finance company about placing GPS devices in financed vehicles.
“We were asked by an out of state lawyer representing an auto finance company whether we would object to installation of GPS units on cars that serve as collateral,” bureau of consumer credit protection superintendent Will Lund said last week. He said the purpose cited by the lawyer was for the secondary finance market for car loans to help determine whether a loan contract was a good credit risk for the finance company.
Read more in the Bangor Daily News to find out what Maine officials think of the legality and privacy implications of this type of practice.