Roger Fingas
Starting July 15, ridesharing service Uber will update its privacy policies to allow tracking of a user's location in the background, the company revealed in a blog post.
The change is meant to "get people on their way more quickly," the company said. As it stands, the Uber mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone can only fetch location once open, sometimes creating a slight delay.
Another policy change will see the company ask for contact permissions in order to send "special offers" to family and friends.
Uber has encountered a number of privacy controversies, such as an incident in which its leading New York executive tracked a Buzzfeed journalist using an internal Uber tool known as God View. The software isn't open to individual drivers, but is accessible at the corporate level, and displays not just the location of Uber vehicles but also those of people who have requested a ride.
To allay fears, Uber said in the blog post that people will have to opt in to the changes. In the case of location tracking, the company is promising not to save a record of past trips.
Uber is acutely aware of public perception regarding data privacy and has been bolstering its legal team to handle the legal side of such matters. Most recently, the company hired away Apple legal counsel and privacy law specialist Sabrina Ross to handle strategic Uber partnerships and regulatory policy issues.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
12 Comments
Creeps be creepy
iOS allows users to turn off location tracking, etc. at the app level (Privacy -> Location Services). And [B][I]this[/I][/B] is why that's needed. "While Using" is one thing, "Always" is something else entirely. There is no valid reason for apps like these to have 24/7 location data. Same thing with Contact data... SMH
I've already shunned the notion of services like Uber, because despite their best efforts, you REALLY don't know the person driving the car you're getting into. Bad enough with cab drivers, but this is even worse.
Now they wanna track me ALL THE TIME?!?!?! Just reinforces my stance on NEVER using services like these, EVER!
Wow. Until I know more - I've deleted the Uber app and will not use it again. Sad, it works so well.
It is interesting this change is occurring AFTER an "Apple legal counsel and privacy law specialist" was hired away from Apple. Was she unhappy having to respect user privacy at Apple and chose to work for a company that does not need to have 24/7 access to my locations and contact information? Is Uber not confident enough that someone would recommend its service to his/her family and friends IF the service is worthy of being recommend? To me, this sounds way too much like something Google would do. (Case in point... Photos).
It is interesting that this story is breaking tonight. Two Android friends were trying to contact Uber for service and for some reason had problems doing so. Once Uber was reached, one of them decided Uber was too expensive. Seeing that this endeavor should not be so tedious, I whipped out my iPhone and gave them favorite city taxi service number. All was done in about 7 minutes.
I have heard horror and rave stories about Uber, but I have chosen to just stick with my regular city taxi service when needed. The taxi cab can tracked from my points A to B, but that's about it. The taxi cab service does not need to know where I am AFTER the service has been rendered. And, the taxi cab service most definitely does not need to know who exists in my Contacts!