[piper6909]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

It has to do with new car dealerships selling information about their customers to firms that compile statistical automotive data; someone somewhere took exception to the dealerships making money off of their information without them even knowing about it. When the dealers did not share the $, and showed no inclination to stop doing it, someone file suit over who "owned" the information, and was therefore entitled to any $ associated with its dissemination or use.

A couple of the usual ambulance chasers saw a chance to make money off of this and turned the filing into a class action, where anyone that had bought a car or had it serviced was entitled to damages, which they had to share with the ambulance chasers. Because the problem crossed state lines, it became a federal legal matter, which means the ruling affects every shop in the country.

Next thing you know, your service data became akin to a national secret. This was your classical pyric victory for the car owners, as very few actually got more than lunch money out of the settlement, the industry is saddled with rules requiring secure storage protection for all customer information, which raised service costs, which were promptly added to every service invoice. Only the lawyers actually won anything of consequence...……..

Wow. And yet, IIRC, we still don't own our own DNA.