Slashdot Mirror
Uber Will Add Panic Button and Location/Journey Sharing In India
mpicpp sends word about new Uber safety measures coming soon to India. "Late last year, Uber announced plans for tighter safety measures in India following the rape of a passenger using its service in December. Now it has confirmed that two major features — an in-app panic button and journey/location sharing — will roll out to users in India on February 11
The company went public with the launch date after Times Of India reported that the Mumbai transportation department was considering a ban on its service over its apparent approach to safety. Authorities are reportedly "not happy with Uber representatives' responses during various meetings held to consider measures for passengers' safety."
Uber cleared the air on its plans to settle "some misconceptions" around its safety policy — which already includes more stringent background checks and a dedicated emergency response team. That will be boosted when the in-app panic button, which alerts local police when triggered, and a 'safety net' feature, which goes beyond Uber's existing 'share my ETA' feature to let customers share details of their location and trip with up to five other people, go live in India next week."
The company went public with the launch date after Times Of India reported that the Mumbai transportation department was considering a ban on its service over its apparent approach to safety. Authorities are reportedly "not happy with Uber representatives' responses during various meetings held to consider measures for passengers' safety."
Uber cleared the air on its plans to settle "some misconceptions" around its safety policy — which already includes more stringent background checks and a dedicated emergency response team. That will be boosted when the in-app panic button, which alerts local police when triggered, and a 'safety net' feature, which goes beyond Uber's existing 'share my ETA' feature to let customers share details of their location and trip with up to five other people, go live in India next week."
"Excuse me driver can you refrain from beating raping me for a moment while I reach for my phone, unlock it, navigate to the uber app, find the panic button and activate it?"
I'd be surprised, though, if someone had the time to take out their phone, unlock it, open the app, and hit the button mid-rape.
They could also add a "is a rapist" feedback item in the driver rating system..
It is their choice to pick them up. It is not as if they are taxis where the driver does it for a job, right?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Ok, I'll bite.
I guess the App is better than hitchhiking (which in my opinion is extremely dangerous both for the passenger (the driver can turn out to be a criminal)
And do what? As a hitchhiker you're asking a random person for a lift, which is statistically very safe indeed. The probability that a randomly selected person stopping his/her car is not only a criminal but a criminal who would target you is very small indeed.
It's like asking someone to watch your laptop for a while in Starbucks while you go to the toilet. If you ask a random person, chances are you're ok. If someone offers to do it, be wary.
and the driver (the passenger could turn out to be a criminal).
If this were true, cab driver would be a seriously dangerous job. In most countries, it isn't. I concede that in countries where hitchhiking has become less common, there's probably some cause to exercise caution regarding whom you might pick up. Common sense goes a long way.
Please, enough of the fearmongering. The western world is a safe place. You'll be fine, and so will your kids.
You can't shut us down! The Internet is about the free exchange and sale of other people's ideas!
Not in the US in my opinion.
Publc opinion is a terrible way to measure risk. That's why people are afraid of terrorists and sharks and paedos and snakes rather than cigarettes and driving and tea cosies.
You can't shut us down! The Internet is about the free exchange and sale of other people's ideas!
So, a little bit of reality here...
In India, what we take for granted as a "background check" is actually not possible. While here in the US we have a massive database called NCIC (which is really the name of the organization that runs it, but everyone calls it NCIC anyways) there's not really such a clearinghouse in India. The individual municipalities keep their own records...often on paper...about past crimes, but there's no centralized source where you can go and check. As a result, "background checks" basically don't exist, because they are exercises in futility unless you're looking to check on a specific event related to a person.
Now, to be 100% accurate, I will say that India did just recently create a centralized database, a year ago I believe. But the database is barely getting any input at all at this point. And on top of that, fake documentation is really easy to obtain in India, there's a lot of corruption...there's a larger systemic issue with just being able to take someone's unique identifying information and do a "background check" to make sure they haven't been convicted of raping a whole school or something in the past.
I've run into this before, with regard to situations where certain kinds of business processes and information handling couldn't be outsourced because of regulatory requirements for background checks, but I also found an interesting analysis that is in the context of this situation with Uber: http://qz.com/308888/the-secre...
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