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Uber Revises Privacy Policy, Wants More Data From Users
itwbennett tips news that Uber has amended its privacy policy, making it much simpler to read and understand. But the policy also includes changes to what data Uber collects about its riders. Beginning July 15th, the Uber phone app will keep track of a rider's location while it's running in the background. Uber says riders will be able to opt out of this tracking. The policy changes also allow for advertising using the rider's contact list: "for example the ability to send special offers to riders' friends or family." The revision of Uber's privacy policy followed complaints at the end of last year that the company was overstepping its bounds.
adware-infested installers, perhaps hosted on SourceForge, which could also track customers.
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
Wait, you think a user can give you permission to spam their friends and family?
How about go fuck yourself and not assuming that because you know Bob, you can scrape his contact list to spam Alice and Mary ... that screams of an epic level of ass-hattery. Because Bob can't legally give you permission to spam Alice and Mary.
Sounds like in addition to being just a dispatcher for illegal cabs, Uber is also a bunch of self entitled assholes who want to spam your friends.
Fuck you, Uber.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Just no. One more good reason not to use this "service". Uber is clearly run by a bunch of a-holes who think they can do whatever they want with your data. I'll pass. I hope this drives more customers away but, sadly, I doubt it will.
"Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
...The policy changes also allow for advertising using the rider's contact list: "for example the ability to send special offers to riders' friends or family."...
There is absolutely no reason to send anything to my friends or family based upon what Uber finds rummaging through my phone.
.
If any of my friends or family want to receive such advertising, they should be the ones who need to approve the privacy policy. I cannot approve it for them.
Remember it is not a rideshare service, but rather a global taxi service with centralized command and control which is more that happy to tell everyone where you went and what you were doing. It basically breaks the "cabbie's code" of privacy. And probably stores your credit card information on a laughably secure server.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Dear Bob's Wife,
Based on Bob's Uber profile statistics we have determined that he took 7 after-hours rides to the red light district during recent months. Please find attached 10% discount coupon for a ride to lawyer's office.
Sincerely,
Uber's Customer Retention Team.
You're completely fucking stupid, eh?
Look, whatever libertarian fantasy world you live in which says a company gets to ignore regulations because their asshole business model says they're special is full of shit. In fact, it's downright delusional. "Boo hoo, teh regulations are teh evil. Horseshit.
Uber like to paint themselves as some crusading underdog being oppressed by the taxi lobby -- but that;'s a crock of shit.
They're a company dispatching bootleg cabs. That's it.
Followed by a temper tantrum that it's OK for them to break the law because they say so.
Sorry, but childish selfish douchebag isn't a business model. This is just more .com era crap of a tech company thinking they're magical because they say so.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Uber is just trying to kill itself...
"The policy changes also allow for advertising using the rider's contact list: "for example the ability to send special offers to riders' friends or family.""
I'd kill/disown friends/family that served me up this crap.
Uber is a multibillion dollar company now....
No, Uber has been 'valued' as a multi-billion dollar company by the venture capitalists who are backing them. It has nothing to do with Uber's actual economic activity or the net-worth of their assets and cash. When venture capitalists put a value anything, it really means that is their asking price for that "investment". It has nothing to do with true economic value. I personally am willing to go out on a limb and would value Uber somewhere between my kid brother's lemonade stand (proven profitability) and a decomissioned Russian aircraft carrier (proven scrap value). Exactly where in that range Uber falls, I cannot say. But then again, I'm not a venture capitalist.
What's really needed is to have OS-level control of permissions that the apps can't see. If an app is denied access to your contacts, it can see a dummy contact list. If an app is denied Internet access, it thinks the device is simply out of range at the moment. If an app is denied location services, it's told that there's no signal (or optionally given a fixed location that you specify).
Otherwise apps will refuse to function based on the lack of access that they don't really need.
You will not get the freedom to choose, because the market can only support one or the other. You are basically saying you want a possibly unsafe driver so everyone else should also have an unsafe driver. That's pretty selfish. The very fact that there is regulation is proof that we can only have one or the other. I do not believe any Taxi company charges much more than the other, therefore I guess by your definition they are not overcharging. You are comparing apples to oranges if you are meaning 'the competition' to mean a company that operates with a complete lack of regulation. That is not competition, that is an illegal entry to the market place. I don't believe the entertainment industry should offer their products for free because there is illegal downloading, do you?
I'm also interested to know how you propose to stop Uber from charging as much as taxi service, or more, once Taxi's are forced out of any given locale.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
welcome to the internet of things, if you would argue as to what this "ass-hattery" has to do with IoT... then I present to you this "business model"
This form of asshattery is by no means limited to the "Internet of Things", or "Web 2.0", or "Social Media", or any other buzzword you might choose to throw out there. I'm not even certain it's restricted to Internet manifestations, though those are certainly the easiest and most prominent.
...when you're writing a game...tweak the difficulty of "Easy" to something [your mother] can cope with. -- onion2k