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General Motors agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties for selling driving data of hundreds of thousands of California motorists to data brokers, allegedly without their consent.
The settlement, announced Friday, is the largest ever for violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act, a 2018 law that requires companies to tell consumers about how their data is shared and to respect requests to stop the sharing. It stemmed from an investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, several county district attorneys, and the California Privacy Protection Agency, which enforces the privacy act.
They said General Motors misled drivers who paid for the emergency roadside and navigation service OnStar and made approximately $20 million from the unlawful sale of their data between 2020 and 2024. The information included names, location information, driving behavior, and contact information, Bonta said, which went to the data brokers LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk Analytics.
The settlement, announced Friday, is the largest ever for violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act, a 2018 law that requires companies to tell consumers about how their data is shared and to respect requests to stop the sharing.
It stemmed from an investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, several county district attorneys, and the California Privacy Protection Agency, which enforces the privacy act. They said General Motors misled drivers who paid for the emergency roadside and navigation service OnStar and made approximately $20 million from the unlawful sale of their data between 2020 and 2024.
The information included names, location information, driving behavior, and contact information, Bonta said, which went to the data brokers LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk Analytics.
“This trove of information included precise and personal location data that could identify the everyday habits and movements of Californians,” Bonta said in a press release. The settlement also requires GM to stop selling data to any consumer reporting agencies for five years and submit privacy assessments to the state,2024 New York Times investigation found GM collected data about millions of drivers nationwide and sold it to insurance companies in order to charge the drivers higher premiums.
Californians were not impacted by those premium hikes because a state law prohibits insurers from using driving data to set insurance rates, Bonta said. Bonta told CalMatters at a press conference Friday that it’s unclear if location data collected by General Motors was used by other companies to make predictions about the prices people are willing to pay for goods. That practice is better known asfrom San Diego County’s district attorney over its alleged use of location for the technique.
Bonta’s office began an investigation into the surveillance pricing practices of businesses in January.
“I understand that there could be some overlap and maybe we'll discover something in our investigation in surveillance pricing, but that wasn't the focus of this case,” he said. Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the case started with one person finding location data in a report they requested about the data collected on them.
That discovery, he added, led to investigations by journalists, prosecutors, and regulators.that General Motors made last year , Hochman called it an indication that companies should expect higher penalties in the future. California reached a privacy law violation settlement with Disney in February for $2.75 million, previously the largest of its kind.
In a statement shared with CalMatters, General Motors spokesperson Charlotte McCoy said, “This agreement addresses Smart Driver, a product we discontinued in 2024, and reinforces steps we’ve taken to strengthen our privacy practices. Vehicle connectivity is central to a modern and safe driving experience, which is why we’re committed to being clear and transparent with our customers about our practices and the choices and control they have over their information.
” Californians will soon have a new protection against companies that use their data without their consent. Starting August 1, the more than 500 data brokers registered with the state must comply with requests California residents can make usingSeventeen U.S. cruise passengers returned to the U.S. early Monday, after weeks aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of a deadly, the Associated Press reported.
The Americans disembarked the cruise in the Canary Islands on Sunday and boarded a medical repatriation flight, arranged by the U.S. government, bound for Nebraska. The Dutch-flagged cruise ship departed from southern Argentina on April 1, and followed an itinerary across the South Atlantic with multiple stops in remote islands. Three of the passengers have died since the outbreak began.
Seventeen U.S. cruise passengers returned to the U.S. early Monday, after weeks aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of a deadly, the Associated Press reported. The Americans disembarked the cruise in the Canary Islands on Sunday and boarded a medical repatriation flight, arranged by the U.S. government, bound for Nebraska. The Dutch-flagged cruise ship departed from southern Argentina on April 1, and followed an itinerary across the South Atlantic with multiple stops in remote islands.
Three of the passengers have died since the outbreak began. Also on Monday, a French woman tested positive for hantavirus, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said. The woman was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"For the passengers getting off the ship, I'd say, 'Welcome to Nebraska.
' You are coming to the premier facility in the United States, if not the world, to take care of you," says Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at UNMC.who were on the ship from 23 different countries. They've endured in the midst of a hantavirus outbreak which has caused at least eight cases, including three deaths, according to thein their cruise cabins.
They will now be monitored for several more weeks, U.S. health officials said in a media call on Saturday. Most of the passengers are arriving at America's only federally funded quarantine unit, which also received cruise passengers from a different outbreak — the Diamond Princess Cruise, in early 2020 — which was one of the first known superspreading events of the COVID-19 pandemic. — and specifically the Andes variant which caused this outbreak — for decades.
"We do know that you can get small clusters of disease, but in 30 years we've never seen any large outbreaks," says Khan,"so this is unlikely to become a pandemic. " This strain of hantavirus can be deadly, but it isn't very contagious between people. It tends to take prolonged, close contact with someone who's showing symptoms.
"It's appropriate to be cautious," Khan says,"To monitor these people for 42 days they don't get sick. And if they do get sick during those 42 days, to make sure to put them into isolation.
" Health officials said the U.S. passengers would all be assessed clinically upon arrival, though they would not be officially quarantined. They suggested that some passengers could continue monitoring at home, with daily check-ins from their health departments. Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University, says the U.S. response has been fragmented, disjointed, and delayed for weeks, but it's finally coming together.
"The CDC was missing in action for quite a long time," he says. "Better late than never — but it is very late. " In response to a request for comment from NPR, Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services:"These claims are completely inaccurate. The U.S. government is conducting a coordinated, interagency response led by the Department of State.
HHS, through ASPR and CDC, is supporting efforts to protect the health and safety of U.S. citizens, including repatriation, medical evaluation, and public health guidance.
" She further described CDC's response activities, including setting up its Emergency Operations Center, deploying teams to the Canary Islands and Nebraska, and notifying state health departments of returning U.S. travelers. Many of these activities have come recently, and Gostin agrees that the U.S. government is now taking active measures to ensure that the passengers, their families, and the communities they're returning to are safe.
But health officials got lucky this time: the Andes virus is not very contagious, and health officials say this outbreak will likely be contained. The way the U.S. has handled this episode shows glaring gaps in its pandemic preparedness, Gostin says:"If this was a highly transmissible virus, you could imagine what chaos we would be facing now.
"Potential young voters get information at an outreach event at Cal State Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, ahead of the 2024 US presidential elections. Californians can’t cast a ballot until they turn 18, but for the last decade 16- and 17-year-olds have been able to pre-register to vote and be automatically added to the rolls on their 18th birthday.
However, LAist reviewed state data and found that participation in the program cratered during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover.cast a ballot compared to 62% of overall turnout. Romero said this deficit has been consistent over time. Research shows that pre-registration is associated withThe number of pre-registered teens peaked in January 2020 at 163,000 — then fell to a record low, about 113,000, in February 2021.
About 119,000 California 16- and 17-year-olds are pre-registered to vote as of April 3, per theCalifornians can’t cast a ballot until they turn 18, but for the past decade 16- and 17-year-olds have been able to pre-register to vote and be automatically added to the rolls on their 18th birthday.
“Teens get to get a head start on the access to voting,” said Daphné Rottenberg, a 17-year-old Venice High School student who pre-registered last year. “I think that it's a very important thing for younger people to learn about their rights, their voting rights and ultimately their ability to decide what policies and politicians become their leaders.
” Nearly 1.5 million students have pre-registered since the program started in 2016 and more than 1.1 million became eligible voters, according to a spokesperson for the California Secretary of State. However, LAist reviewed state data and found that participation in the program cratered during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover.
A nonprofit that promotes youth voting found California’s pre-registration totals represent “California is not doing a good job implementing pre-registration,” said Laura Brill, who lives in Los Angeles and is the founder and CEO of.
“It's a very nice law that lets you do it, but it has not been widely adopted by high schools. ” The unrealized promise of the program is to jumpstart the civic lives of young voters, who’ve been historically underrepresented at the polls.
“The process of signing up creates conversations, dialogue that can educate young people and hopefully encourage them ,” said Mindy Romero, director of theat USC. “If they vote at 18, they're much more likely to continue to vote through the life course. But you've got to get them when they're young.
”Rottenberg, who describes herself as “pretty involved in the political scene,” didn’t know about pre-registration until she connected with The Civics Project through a teacher to hold a voter registration drive at her school.
“Every youth vote is valuable and important, but the numbers should be higher,” Romero said. “It's really on our society and we shouldn't be blaming young people for that. ” “I think young people really struggle with particularly coming of age in this polarized environment,” Romero said.
“They feel really disconnected from the political process. They care about the world and issues, but they don't see necessarily how voting is an actionable step on what they care about. ” It's a very important thing for younger people to learn about their rights, their voting rights, and ultimately their ability to decide what policies and politicians become their leaders.
“We somewhere along the line disconnected the notion of high schools and K through 12 schools as like, bedrocks of teaching democracy and democratic practice,” said Joel Snyder, a social studies teacher at a charter school in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood. “I think a lot of that nationally is a real fear of folks looking or feeling like they're being partisan.
” Even Snyder, who's been a teacher for more than two decades, paused during our interview to consider whether to share that as part of his class, students register to vote. California 16-year-olds became eligible for pre-registration in fall 2016.
“Studies have shown that the earlier people are introduced to voting, the more likely they are to become life-long participants in democracy,” Jackson wrote. Not currently serving a state and federal prison term for a felony conviction or found mentally incompetent to vote by a courtto your county elections office— this option does not require a California-issued driver’s license or identification card number I'm looking forward to when I can vote, to being able to actually get closer to those things, to not just tell other people why they're important, but I can actually do something.
The number of pre-registered teens peaked in January 2020 at 163,000 — then fell to a record low, about 113,000, in February 2021. Romero hasn’t analyzed the program’s outcomes, but offered a “likely” set of factors contributing to the stagnating participation.
“You can't just offer it and then expect a high sign-up rate,” Romero said. “There needs to be conversations around why it's important, what the nuts and bolts of registration are, what the nuts and bolts are of voting so kids feel confident. ”for AB 2724, a 2024 bill that would have required schools to provide students information about pre-registration before the end of their junior year, Newsom wrote he was concerned about creating another school mandate.
“Schools already have the ability to fulfill the requirements of this bill without creating a new mandate,” Newsom said. “Civics in schools is under-taught, right, and under-resourced, and teachers are burdened, they have lots of different competing requirements,” Romero said. “So you have to be really committed to wanna talk to young people about this.
”Brill, with The Civics Center, said there are other changes that could help make it easier for teens to pre-register, including removing the requirement to have a driver’s license to sign up online. AboutHer organization holds trainings and created a toolkit for students and educators to host voter registration drives at their schools. Brill said more than 100 are planned for this spring, including at Venice High School.
“It really bothers me when people think that they're not being heard and so they completely disengage,” said Sage Smith, who is organizing the drive with several other students, including Rottenberg. “Instead of tuning everything out, I, we are able to bring people in so that they actually get involved. ” Smith said more than 300 of her peers pre-registered to vote during last year’s drive, which targeted seniors.
“There's an idea that, you know, younger people are uninvolved, but when they're presented with the information, everyone cared, everyone was quick to sign up,” Smith said. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report.
Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.in Burbank, Hannah Dasher brings honky-tonk vibes to Hollywood, new exhibits at CAAM and more of the best things to do this week.. It was clever, witty, tight and very au courant. So how pleased was I to learn that just over a year later, this little-show-that-could is getting a full staging at the Colony Theatre in Burbank.
Nico Juber’s musical follows the daily life of a millennial mom who’s trying to keep up in this emoji-laden world. The California African American Museum has eight current exhibits now open, so you can go again and again this summer and never fail to learn something new .
The latest show to open there is, which looks at the New Orleans-born artist’s chronicling of Black life in America from the late 1960s through the present.before I ended up in an endless scroll through her addictive TikTok feed that blends Southern cooking and country music. She brings her signature honk-tonk sound to a free live performance at Desert 5 Spot.
, but apparently that’s all you need to know now that the real-life Anaheim Ducks are progressing through the Stanley Cup playoffs —include experimental ambient artist Ana Roxanne at Sid The Cat Auditorium and YouTube star-turned-rapper DDG at the Roxy, both on Monday. On Tuesday, Paramore’s Hayley Williams kicks off her solo run at the Wiltern, RAYE plays the first of two nights at the Greek Theatre and indie-pop heroes the New Pornographers play the Teragram.
Wednesday, Mika relaxes and takes it easy at the Orpheum; Canadian singer-songwriter Katie Tupper is at the Echoplex; and electronica legends the Prodigy restart their fire with the first of two nights at the Novo. Thursday, you can see Nottingham post-punks Sleaford Mods at the Fonda; Rozzi at LAX ; UB40 at the Pacific Amphitheatre; or the triumphant Indigo Girls, who are soldiering on despite singer Emily Saliers’ health issues, at the Bellwether.
Lorde will also play the first of her two-night stint at the Forum. Jazz Fest in New Orleans is over, but really, who can get enough? Rap and hip-hop pioneer Rakim headlines, supported by the legendary New Orleans brass band the Soul Rebels, for two more unforgettable nights at the Blue Note.. It was clever, witty, tight and very au courant.
And so how pleased was I to learn that just over a year later, this little-show-that-could is getting a full staging at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Nico Juber’s musical follows the daily life of a millennial mom who’s trying to keep up in this emoji-laden world. It’s good fun for anyone who can’t get off their phone, which, let’s admit, is all of us.
Climbers and wannabe climbers, head to indoor rock climbing gym Sender One for a special AAPI month event with the Asian Climbing Collective and FilipinUp. Celebrate Asian culture and community through climbing, plus local vendors, music, mock competitions and a raffle. , received a recent rave from The New York Times. She’ll be on hand for a discussion and book signing with the Italian American cultural group, the Garibaldina Society, at their club, moderated by L.A.
Times food writer Jenn Harris. Of course, there will be snacks, drinks and sauce. The California African American Museum is always a great place to spend an afternoon, but with eight current exhibits now open, you can go again and again this summer and never fail to learn something new .
The latest show to open there is, which looks at the New Orleans-born artist’s chronicling of Black life in America from the late 1960s through the present, with a focus on “retentions” — African traditions that show up across American culture. The Birch exhibit joins ongoing shows, including).
The free-to-enter event includes bites inspired by his work, cocktails and a chance to purchase a tote bag that the artist will sign and illustrate on the spot for a one-of-a-kind keepsake.before I ended up in an endless scroll of her addictive TikTok feed that blends Southern cooking and country music. She brings her signature honky-tonk sound to a free live performance at Desert 5 Spot, timed with the release of her first cookbook titled — I am not making this up —Despite this, the 1994 World Cup — the first held in the U.S. — took a surprising turn.
Game after game, the Rose Bowl and stadiums across the country were filled to capacity, packed not only with tourists and die-hard fans but also with soccer novices who came out of curiosity and because tickets were relatively affordable, according to soccer historians. Soccer's momentum in the U.S. has only been growing since then, fueled by the launch of Major League Soccer and the success of the U.S. Women's National Team. The World Cup returns to the U.S. in June.
This time, the games in L.A. — eight total — will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. On a scorching afternoon in Chicago, some 63,000 spectators — including then-President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey — were packed like sardines at Soldier Field to watch Germany vs. Bolivia. Their cheers and boos, as loud as thunder.
Today, it's easy to imagine a World Cup game drawing such American fanfare. But back then, it was a much different story.
"It was a big question as to how the U.S. would embrace it. Would people come to the games?
" Mike Sorber, who played for the U.S. Men's National Team in 1994, told NPR. Despite this, the 1994 World Cup — the first held in the U.S. — took a surprising turn. Game after game, stadiums were filled to capacity, packed not only with tourists and die-hard fans but also with soccer novices who came out of curiosity and because tickets were relatively affordable, according to soccer historians.
" I think all the naysayers were surprised," said Sorber, who is currently an assistant coach for Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls. "The atmosphere was electric. It was like a big party.
" Soccer's momentum in the U.S. has only been growing since then, fueled by the launch of Major League Soccer and the success of the U.S. Women's National Team. When the World Cup returns to the U.S. in June, it will be greeted by aHow exactly did a sport that struggled to gain traction for decades go on to break the World Cup's record for largest attendance and win over Americans' hearts?
To answer that, NPR spoke to Sorber, along with soccer journalists and fans, about the breakthrough World Cup. How far back the soccer tradition in the U.S. goes depends on whom you ask and where they're from.
Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and pockets of New York, New Jersey and New England all have deep soccer roots — often brought by European immigrants in the 19th century, according to Brian D. Bunk, who teaches the history of sports at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a result, the sport was largely associated with working-class and immigrant communities, Bunk added. Some also dismissed soccer over the perception that it lacked the physicality of sports like American football.
Colombian soccer fans wave their country's flag during the "Chicago Welcomes the World Cup" parade on June 15, 1994.
"The argument that was often made against soccer is that it was an inferior form of football," Bunk said. There were brief bursts of excitement for the sport in the late 20th century — such as when legendary Brazilian player Pelé came to play in the U.S. in the late 1970s — but they never lasted long. By the 1980s, the future of soccer in the U.S. looked bleak.
The North American Soccer League, which began in 1968, folded after the 1984 season.
" Let's face it: You need to have the product in front of you to see what the heck this is all about," said Michael Lewis, who has covered soccer for five decades. He's the editor of Front Row Soccer, a website that follows the soccer scene in New York and New Jersey. FIFA also saw an opportunity.
Soccer's global governing body viewed the U.S."as the last and largest uncracked market for its sport," Pete Davies, who has written extensively about sports, toldWhat the U.S. lacked in soccer prowess, it made up for with its ability to put on a massive sporting event — and a fun one at that.
" We have the sporting infrastructure — the stadiums — we have the hotels, the restaurants, the transportation systems," said Bunk, of the University of Massachusetts. "And so all of that stuff meant that the World Cup could go very smoothly. " Americans also proved they were up for a good time — and World Cup fans knew how to bring the party. Drums, whistles, trumpets, singing, dancing and face paint were the hallmarks of a World Cup game.
A Mexican fan, his face painted with Mexico's national colors, cheers in the stands at the Citrus Bowl stadium in Orlando, Fla. , on June 24, 1994, prior to the start of the World Cup match between Mexico and Ireland. A soccer fan supporting Argentina plays a drum at the World Cup match between Argentina and Nigeria at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts in June 1994.
That's what Kevin Tallec Marston, a research fellow at the International Centre for Sports Studies in Switzerland, remembers most vividly from the Belgium vs. Saudi Arabia match in Washington, D.C. , which he attended as a teenager.
"It was not the kind of fandom that Americans would associate with going to an NBA game, going to an NFL game," he said. "Seeing these people from all around the world with their own cultures, their own chants, their own songs, their own instruments.
" "It created this sort of mythical element of what it was to watch the World Cup," said Tallec Marston, who, along with Front Row Soccer's Lewis, is a board member of the Society for American Soccer History. But perhaps what electrified Americans most was the strong performance of the U.S. Men's National Team. It started with a hard-fought 1-1 tie with Switzerland, followed by a stunning 2-1 upset over powerhouse Colombia.
That match was the first World Cup win for the U.S. men's team since 1950. The team's victory was witnessed by more than Sorber, a midfielder in the starting lineup, said he had played for large crowds before, but never for an audience so enthralled by the U.S. team.
It was"euphoria," he said.
" All of a sudden, it really opened the eyes to the whole United States … that wow, this is what the future of soccer could be. " . "It sort of lit a fire under people," he said. "I would think some Americans became soccer fans that day.
" The U.S. team went on to lose to Romania 1-0 and then to Brazil 1-0. Although the U.S. didn't win, Sorber said, the support and energy from American fans during those matches felt like a victory.
" You had a huge turnout," he said. "So again, that was a big moment in U.S. soccer history … to reestablish soccer, to build that foundation and get more awareness for the U.S. national team. "In total, over 3.5 million people attended the 1994 World Cup — the largest attendance in FIFA history to this day. Despite its success, soccer's American fanbase didn't grow overnight.
Two years later, the professional Major League Soccer launched. Around that time, FIFA's World Cup video game franchise helped introduce soccer to an even broader audience. All the while, the U.S. Women's National Team emerged as a dominating force and accelerated the rise of women's soccer globally. Brandi Chastain celebrates after kicking the winning penalty kick at the 1999 women's World Cup final against China on July 10, 1999.
, added fire to the nation's passion for the sport. MLS, which began with 10 teams, has since expanded to 30 clubs. Together, these moments helped transform the soccer landscape in the United States. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar drew an average of 4.7 million American viewers per game, according toWhen it comes to America's favorite sports, soccer now ranks third, surpassing baseball, according to Ampere Analysis, a data firm focused on entertainment industries.
Davis, who is now the director of legacy programs for the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, said it's validating to see the sport he has loved and played since childhood resonate with more people at home.
"I did have some faith that it was going to grow," he said. "But I would be lying if I said I thought we'd be here in 2026, seeing how big it's become. "Although this isn't the first time that the U.S. has hosted the World Cup, the upcoming tournament is expected to be vastly different.
"One of the key aspects of the '94 World Cup was taking football to the new horizon," said Tallec Marston, who co-wroteHosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, this year's competition will introduce more teams and matches than ever before. It will also return to a far more diverse United States. In 1994, aboutTwo men walk past a mural of a soccer player in Guadalajara, Mexico, on April 29.
Mexico will co-host the biggest World Cup in history, along with the United States and Canada, from June 11 to July 19.
"You're going to have a representation of countries and nations that we will have never seen before. And so that will be very exciting to see," Tallec Marston said. The current U.S. Men's National Team has far more experience on the World Cup stage compared with the 1994 team. Since then, the team has qualified for every World Cup except one, in 2018.
There'sThe controversies leading up to the games are also quite different. In 1994, the uncertainty was whether many Americans would attend the matches. This year, the question is whether they will be able to afford to — with dynamic pricing The tournament will also take place during a politically volatile period in the United States.
The ongoing war with Iran has led to questions about whether the Iranian team will participate.as to how many tourists will feel comfortable traveling to the United States. The administration is also requiring a bond offrom 50 countries that it deemed as having immigration risk factors, such as high overstay rates and screening and vetting deficiencies.
Five nations that qualified for the World Cup —, about his experience covering eight men's World Cups, expects that"there'll be magic, but there'll be headaches too.
" " I think the games themselves should be exciting and fun," he said. However, putting the problems to rest, Lewis added, will be"easier said than done. "
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