Uber poaches Apple legal counsel to work on privacy issues

At Uber, Ross will work on a team led by Katherine Tassi, the company's managing counsel and former head of data protection at Facebook, reports Re/code.

The publication confirmed Ross' move on Wednesday, saying her new position entails work on privacy concerns, including strategic Uber partnerships, and regulatory policy issues. Ross worked at Apple for a little over one year as the company's privacy counsel before leaving in April.

Uber recently came under fire after it was discovered that employees were capable of monitoring customers' locations in real-time even after a ride transaction was completed. The company has since removed such functionality and is working hard to clamp down on user privacy problems.

Customer location data is key to Uber's appeal as an on-demand transportation service. When a user requests a car through the Uber smartphone app, GPS positioning data is sent out to nearby drivers for quick pickups at the press of a button. Customers can view driver details, including a requested car's position and estimated arrival time.

This isn't the first time Uber made advances to an Apple employee. Last July, Apple reportedly lost a senior engineer from its mapping department.