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Former Employees Say Lyft Staffers Spied On Passengers (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Similar to Uber's "God View" scandal, Lyft staffers have been abusing customer insight software to view the personal contact info and ride history of the startup's passengers. One source that formerly worked with Lyft tells TechCrunch that widespread access to the company's backend let staffers "see pretty much everything including feedback, and yes, pick up and drop off coordinates." When asked if staffers, ranging from core team members to customer service reps, abused this privilege, the source said "Hell yes. I definitely looked at my friends' rider history and looked at what drivers said about them. I never got in trouble." Another supposed employee anonymously reported on workplace app Blind that staffers had access to this private information and that the access was abused. Our source says that the data insights tool logs all usage, so staffers were warned by their peers to be careful when accessing it surreptitiously. For example, some thought that repeatedly searching for the same person might get noticed. But despite Lyft logging the access, enforcement was weak, so team members still abused it. A Lyft spokesperson issued the following statement to TechCrunch: "Maintaining the trust of passengers and drivers is fundamental to Lyft. The specific allegations in this post would be a violation of Lyft's policies and a cause for termination, and have not been raised with our Legal or Executive teams. We are conducting an investigation into the matter. Access to data is restricted to certain teams that need it to do their jobs. For those teams, each query is logged and attributed to a specific individual. We require employees to be trained in our data privacy practices and responsible use policy, which categorically prohibit accessing and using customer data for reasons other than those required by their specific role at the company. Employees are required to sign confidentiality and responsible use agreements that bar them from accessing, using, or disclosing customer data outside the confines of their job responsibilities."
"A Lyft spokesperson issued the following statement..."
Which noticeably didn't end with "...and any and all employees who have violated that policy will be immediately fired for cause, with no termination benefits."
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
"Hell yes. I definitely looked at my friends' rider history and looked at what drivers said about them"
I can't imagine how boring and petty life must be to be motivated to spend time looking up shit like this...
A Lyft spokesperson issued the following statement to TechCrunch.."Blah blah blah, yadda yadda ....typical corporate PR statement....yadda yadda...."
" Employees are required to sign confidentiality and responsible use agreements that bar them from accessing, using, or disclosing customer data outside the confines of their job responsibilities"
Ahahahahahaha. They probably didn't even read the damn things. "Here sign this if you want your job."
It's treated like a EULA.
If you use a service that tracks everything, you have to assume people will look at it. I mean, why would the company care about keeping your information completely private?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
when it does you discipline and/or fire the people involved. Lyft and Uber both have done terrible things. But this? This is a big 'ole nothingburger.
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How shocking!
But this? This is a big 'ole nothingburger.
we get it, you're a psychopath
can't even imagine what other people go through
This is Why We Can't Have Good Things.
There will always be some *ssHoles that will abuse their privileges and companies that are unwilling to live up to their responsibilities as gatekeepers to such personal data.
Let's hope Lyft analyzes their data access logs and properly metes out appropriate punishment to those that abused their privileges.
Employees have access to your data, get over it. If a company collects data about you, you should just expect one day that whole company's database is going to be hacked and uploaded to a torrent one day. It's the world we live in.
Everyone I know who's worked at the phone company and had the ability to, has listened in to phone calls. It's human nature. One telco employee I met mentioned listening to Lucille Ball's calls when he was bored. You can never expect full privacy of anything that leaves your house.