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Uber Says It'll Stop Tracking Riders After They're Dropped Off (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the Big-Brother dept.

Uber is revamping privacy settings that it rolled out last fall to allow iOS users the ability to deny Uber the right to track your whereabouts. Similar tweaks are reportedly coming to the Android version of the app. USA Today reports: The new options for Uber app users are: Always (Uber is allowed to collect rider location information from the moment the app is opened until the trip ends), While Using The App (information flows to Uber while the app is visible on the screen) and Never (no info is transmitted but riders have to manually input their pick-up and drop-off locations). One of the old privacy features that gave many users pause was Uber's ability to track the whereabouts of riders up to 5 minutes after a ride was completed. Uber says the 5-minute feature was never activated on the iOS version of its app, and that it was disabled a few months after being initiated on the Android version. The company maintained that the feature was to enhance safety, but for many the option was too reminiscent of some of Uber's more notorious Big Brother tactics.

In 2016, Uber settled an investigation brought by New York's attorney general by agreeing to encrypt rider geo-location. The inquiry was sparked by reports that Uber executives had access to riders' locations, and that Uber displayed rider information in an aerial view known internally as "God View." Earlier this year, federal regulators began investigating an Uber practice known as "greyballing," which allowed engineers to take over an app and create a screen showing cars that did not really exist. The practice was used to steer regulators investigating Uber away from drivers, and was halted by Uber after being reported by The New York Times.

3 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, my GOSH! by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thank you Uber, you're so kind! e_e

    1. Re:Oh, my GOSH! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Thank you Uber, you're so kind! e_e

      And who says the corporation-person does not have morals and a conscience? Uber was perfectly within their rights to do this, and even more for that matter, but yet here is Uber, a poster child of corporate culture acting against their interests out of the goodness of their hearts because they care about the consumer! Take that, Libtards!!!

  2. Re:Honto ni? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    with all the sincerity of a grinning politician (or banking or insurance or big pharma executive).