Compliance Management, Network Security, Privacy

Facebook blocks car insurance premiums based on posts

Facebook blocked the plans of one of the U.K.'s largest car insurance firms to use Facebook posts when determining premiums.

Admiral Insurance was looking to analyze the Facebook accounts of first-time car owners to look for personality traits that are linked to safe driving, according to The Guardian.

The insurer had plans to examine posts for “good” habits such as writing in short concrete sentences, using lists, and arranging to meet people at a set time and place, rather than just “tonight,” while supposed evidence that users may be overconfident would count against a driver and might include the use of exclamation marks and frequent use of words such as “always” and “never” as opposed to maybe.

The program would have been voluntary and information gathered would have only been used to offer discounts, not to increase rates, although the company had not ruled out expanding the program.

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