Uber updates app, can now track passenger&locations even when app is closed///Big BrUber

In the updated app the passenger can opt out of the info gathering, but it is a pain the a$$ to opt out. The passenger has to enter the pick up and drop off manually. So they made it easy to be tracked and hard to opt out, color me surprised.
Uber also has been in trouble and fined for legal issues related to passenger data before.

Well it looks like Uber has updated it's app so Uber is now collecting location data even when the app is closed. But just for 5 minutes, this is reported to improve their service.

Previously Uber only collected passenger data when app was closed
Update now allows Uber to collect data five minutes after a journey
Uber said its update will help 'improve' the service given to passengers
Firm say it will stop confusion on pick-ups for passengers and drivers

In the app a passenger can opt out of the info gathering, but it is a pain the a$$ to opt out. The passenger has to enter the pick up and drop off manually. So they made it easy to be tracked and hard to opt out, color me surprised.
Uber also has been in trouble and fined for legal issues related to passenger data before.

On the app users can choose between two information sharing options labelled 'Always' and 'Never'.

However, if riders choose the 'Never' option it means they will have to enter in their pick up and drop off details manually each time.

Uber has faced legal issues regarding passenger data in the past, and were forced to pay out $20,000 after a case in the US.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

I have always turned off the GPS as a default. Just felt like any app could do what you've described. If I need to use it, I turn it on just for the time I need it, then turn it back off. It's an easy way to defeat this type of privacy intrusion.

a reply to: bluesjr

Me too, but is it really off?

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: bluesjr

Me too, but is it really off?

Haha. Excellent point. Especially on this CT site. I think it is (right now) since it's a BIOS like switch and any app I open that needs tells me it won't work unless I turn it on.

a reply to: bluesjr

I was reading a story that the phones are perfect listening devices, and we the public will never know it is listening to us. So I guess we are at the will of the hackers/govt if they want to know where we are, we will have to work hard to "hide".

I don't use this app/service. But thanks for the notice.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: bluesjr

I was reading a story that the phones are perfect listening devices, and we the public will never know it is listening to us. So I guess we are at the will of the hackers/govt if they want to know where we are, we will have to work hard to "hide".

I don't use this but good for the heads up for others. Cell phones are listening devices as well as when turned off.

It's not just apps, cities are using cell phones for tracking and it has it's concerns.

It’s hard to talk about data without raising the issue of privacy, however.

The new system works because cellphones and tablets have their own identifying numbers called media access control or MAC addresses. As you drive down Mercer Street or 2nd Ave or 23rd, it can tell that it’s the same device pinging the string of antennas at the streetlights.

The SDOT representatives say this poses no privacy risks, having data scrubbed, claims of it "not knowing who you are", etc.

So, whats the issue?

The issue for Robinson is that the city does not own the technology; a private contractor does. Rather than develop its own system, SDOT found it would be cheaper and more effective to pay a service fee to get it up and running. When SDOT first experimented with the Bluetooth readers, they hired Acyclica, based out of Boulder, Colorado. The city was satisfied with the product so gave Acyclica a contract to build out the Wi-Fi reader infrastructure. More recently, SDOT added four more vendors — Digimax, Quality Counts, Western Systems and IDAX — to its vendor pool, meaning any of them may be used to expand the already existing data network.

“I’d like to know what kind of encryption and transparency measures they have in place,” says Robinson. “But we don’t know what the city is asking [of the companies]. If they would just say what they’re doing and make it transparent they would at least have us not worried about whether they’re lying or not.”

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