How integrated is OnStar?

[tkat]

Now that OnStar is standard on GM (I'm looking at Hummer H3), I'm trying to find a definitive answer to this question:

Can I completely disconnect and remove the OnStar box? If I do, will it disrupt the engine or other electronics systems? Will I loose anything that is not OnStar?

I know that I can disconnect antenna, remove fuse, pull cord from mirror, etc. But can I pull the box completely?

[tkat]

Now that OnStar is standard on GM (I'm looking at Hummer H3), I'm trying to find a definitive answer to this question:

Can I completely disconnect and remove the OnStar box? If I do, will it disrupt the engine or other electronics systems? Will I loose anything that is not OnStar?

I know that I can disconnect antenna, remove fuse, pull cord from mirror, etc. But can I pull the box completely?

[Hummertech]

They are changing onstar constantly, but I'm 99% sure that on the 06 H3, you can pull the box and not hurt anything. Your other computers will store trouble codes since they won't be able to talk to it, but that shouldn't trigger any lights or messages. Why do you want to disconnect it?

[tkat]

At the risk or being labeled a paranoid whacko, it is a privacy thing for me.

I work in the technology world, and I see abuses of information and access all of the time. I wouldn't get a TiVo for the same reason. The contracts for OnStar and Tivo are very similar - the service provider has the right to access their hardware and download any information that they want.

On the older OnStar, I would have just yanked the VCU to prevent access to the data, but now the cell and black box are one unit.

Thanks for the response.