Uber’s New (No) Privacy Policy

Uber has announced changes to its privacy policy which take effect July 15.  These changes would allow Uber to do more than rate you – it would allow them to keep detailed information about your whereabouts even when you are not using the app and even when you have turned off your GPS.    This means Uber will know where you are 24/7.   Oh, and they also want to be able to bombard your contacts with promotions.  The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently filed a complaint with the FTC asking them to step in.  Hopefully it will.  The complaint is available here and  it’s really worth a read as it lays out the devious changes to Uber’s privacy policies and their business practices.  This NYT article also explains how these changes may affect consumers.

What drives me crazy about privacy policies such as Uber’s – other than the massive vacuuming of consumer information and the erosion of our baseline expectations of privacy- is the way they try to couch what they are doing in misleading terms.  Uber’s “update” on its privacy policy, for example, starts the same way other privacy sucking companies’ privacy policies do – by professing deep concern for our privacy, “We care deeply about the privacy of our riders and drivers.”  Sound familiar? This type of statement gives users the false impression that the changes to the privacy policy actually protect privacy.

Uber claims that users can opt-out of these changes, but I’m skeptical.  Users may technically have this ability, but it won’t be easy to figure out.  As the EPIC complaint notes, Uber’s opt-out places an “unreasonable burden on consumers and is not easy to exercise.”

Of course, most Uber users won’t be aware of any changes to its privacy policy since most people won’t read the privacy policy.  Most consumers count on companies to act ethically – and when that fails, we believe the FTC or some other governmental entity, will save us.