Chris Clark
New Member
- 3
Ok, so I am not an agent and fairly ignorant when it comes to insurance which is why up until recently, I have had my sister-in-law handle my insurance needs until my rates went up 25% without explanation or reason. (no accidents, tickets and I havent purchased an exotic car unfortunately-She has been an agent for 30+ years) I got a quote from Geico that was significantly less that what my renewal rate would have been with Progressive after 5 years and only 1 claim on a minor accident while on my motorcycle. (claim was appx $2500-and worth mentioning my renewal following the accident actually went down slightly) BTW, Progressive was outstanding during that process. The rate I was quoted by Geico provided a 10% discount if I would install their app.
I've worked in the IT filed for 15+ years so I believe my competence is greater than most people and certainly far greater than the agents I spoke with at Geico. Here is the issue. I went to install the app on my phone and it specifically asks to allow the app to access location information on my phone which I wasn't crazy about, but I understood the need. The second part of the app asks for permission to access my PHONE settings. First thing that came to mind when I saw this was, "WTF do they need access to my phone settings for? It isn't relevant! NOT HAPPENING!" Now phone settings is a broad term. That could include call logs, contact information as well as the ability to listen or record conversations although not likely. However, intended or not, a few extra lines of code in the app could provide that capability.
I don't want to be labeled as "that guy" but at this day and age I have legitimate concerns about my personal information and my rights associated with it at a day and age where it is infringed upon. I did call Geico and spoke to a couple agents about my concern and needless to say, they were more or less dumbfounded. I might as well have been speaking Russian. I even spoke to a supervisor that was even more ignorant than the customer service agent. While my personal information and how it is used is my primary concern, there are a couple other sensitive issues that are concerning.
First if this app has access to my 'phone settings' it has access to contact lists among other things. This gives then access to phone numbers, names, possibly physical addresses and definitely email addresses. While a Geico customer consenting to the use and terms of the app may have agreed to the disclosure of this information, the people in my contact list certainly did not. If my phone or anybody elses phone were compromised in some way with malicious intent, these people are also now at risk The agent I spoke to says all insurance companies have liability policies that protect them from oddities that would likely include a breach like this. That sounds reasonable to me, however I don't have a policy like that so now I potentially have a liability risk!
The other issue I see with this app is that it could possible be seen as discriminatory which also could be met with litigation. Coming from the angle of, "Geico will give you a discount by installing this app so that we can monitor your driving habits, but if we cant have access to your personal data (which has no relevance) you don't get this discount." At this day and age, we have all heard of companies being sued for issues far more ridiculous!
As a result of my experience, I have declined to use this app because of it's invasive properties. I have no doubt there are other insurance companies out there using similar software. Essentially, I am just trying to promote awareness in your industry and a potential hazard. You cant tell me that if data from an app that your company put on your customers phones was compromised and it resulted in a multi-million dollar lawsuit that we're not going to see that reflected in OUR insurance rates at some point. Or if somebody is ineligible for a discount because they are unwilling to compromise or willing to sell their personal data and happens to find a hungry, creative lawyer that presents a case to a sympathetic jury and gets rewarded that people arent going to feel that in OUR premiums. I think in a day and age where everything is so competitive and you have to fight for every dollar you can, companies don't fully consider the risks vs rewards to the extent they should.
I've worked in the IT filed for 15+ years so I believe my competence is greater than most people and certainly far greater than the agents I spoke with at Geico. Here is the issue. I went to install the app on my phone and it specifically asks to allow the app to access location information on my phone which I wasn't crazy about, but I understood the need. The second part of the app asks for permission to access my PHONE settings. First thing that came to mind when I saw this was, "WTF do they need access to my phone settings for? It isn't relevant! NOT HAPPENING!" Now phone settings is a broad term. That could include call logs, contact information as well as the ability to listen or record conversations although not likely. However, intended or not, a few extra lines of code in the app could provide that capability.
I don't want to be labeled as "that guy" but at this day and age I have legitimate concerns about my personal information and my rights associated with it at a day and age where it is infringed upon. I did call Geico and spoke to a couple agents about my concern and needless to say, they were more or less dumbfounded. I might as well have been speaking Russian. I even spoke to a supervisor that was even more ignorant than the customer service agent. While my personal information and how it is used is my primary concern, there are a couple other sensitive issues that are concerning.
First if this app has access to my 'phone settings' it has access to contact lists among other things. This gives then access to phone numbers, names, possibly physical addresses and definitely email addresses. While a Geico customer consenting to the use and terms of the app may have agreed to the disclosure of this information, the people in my contact list certainly did not. If my phone or anybody elses phone were compromised in some way with malicious intent, these people are also now at risk The agent I spoke to says all insurance companies have liability policies that protect them from oddities that would likely include a breach like this. That sounds reasonable to me, however I don't have a policy like that so now I potentially have a liability risk!
The other issue I see with this app is that it could possible be seen as discriminatory which also could be met with litigation. Coming from the angle of, "Geico will give you a discount by installing this app so that we can monitor your driving habits, but if we cant have access to your personal data (which has no relevance) you don't get this discount." At this day and age, we have all heard of companies being sued for issues far more ridiculous!
As a result of my experience, I have declined to use this app because of it's invasive properties. I have no doubt there are other insurance companies out there using similar software. Essentially, I am just trying to promote awareness in your industry and a potential hazard. You cant tell me that if data from an app that your company put on your customers phones was compromised and it resulted in a multi-million dollar lawsuit that we're not going to see that reflected in OUR insurance rates at some point. Or if somebody is ineligible for a discount because they are unwilling to compromise or willing to sell their personal data and happens to find a hungry, creative lawyer that presents a case to a sympathetic jury and gets rewarded that people arent going to feel that in OUR premiums. I think in a day and age where everything is so competitive and you have to fight for every dollar you can, companies don't fully consider the risks vs rewards to the extent they should.
