Uber Technologies Inc is adding video and audio recording for more trips — a move designed to make the service safer and help settle disputes, but which has triggered privacy concerns about the personal information the ride-hailing giant collects.
Uber began offering some drivers the option to install dashboard cameras in their vehicles this summer, and next month plans to launch a pilot program in Brazil and Mexico to let riders and drivers opt to record audio in a vehicle.
Both early stage experiments are part of Uber’s push to better protect riders and drivers following reports of sexual assault, physical assault and robbery.
Photo: AFP
The increased surveillance of rides at Uber coincides with a spike in demand from US and Canadian regulators, and law enforcement officials for companies to share their customers’ information.
The number of requests from US state and federal law enforcement agencies increased to 3,825 last year, up 30 percent from a year earlier, an Uber transparency report said on Wednesday.
“None of this is simple or easy, but we’ll continue to invest, test and learn to improve safety on our platform while respecting privacy,” Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi said on Twitter on Thursday in response to a media report about the expansion of its videotape program.
Descriptions of the recordings were reported by the New York Times and Reuters.
An Uber spokesman that said the company had not significantly expanded video recording beyond the pilot program started in July with camera and driver analytics company Nauto Inc.
Nauto’s Web site lists seven cities where it is working with Uber on dashcam recording: Dallas and Houston in Texas, Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, as well as Fort Myers, Naples and Tampa in Florida.
The spokesman also said that some drivers are engaged in the program in San Antonio, Miami, Orlando, Austin and Jacksonville, Florida.
Riders in those cities can see which drivers have cameras when they schedule a ride in the app, and when the driver picks them up because the car has a sticker indicating a recording is under way.
According to information on Nauto’s Web site, the audio and video footage is deleted on a regular basis.
Drivers and riders can request to view the footage — with the faces blurred out and audio muted — but they do not own it.
Uber only reviews the footage when a driver or rider requests a review. In those instances, Uber can access the audio and unblurred faces.
An Uber spokesman said that the video and audio recording programs are experiments, and the company is gathering feedback before deciding whether to expand them to additional markets.
In Mexico and Brazil, where the company is planning to start its audio pilot, riders would have the option to record the audio of the trip on their phone during a ride. The file would then stored on the user’s phone, but would not be accessible because it is encrypted.
If a rider or driver wanted Uber to review the tape, they would send the recording to Uber, which would decrypt it with a key.
Uber announced the program in Sao Paulo earlier his month.
George Arison, founder of start-up Shift Technologies Inc, said he is worried about the “scary” amount of data Uber could potentially collect.
“It’s concerning especially since I take a lot of my work calls from my Uber,” he wrote in a message.
Uber, for its part, recognizes the power it wields as it collects customer data, even without the audio and video recordings.
In its last transparency report, the company expressed some concern that the information it has amassed on trips, trip requests, pickup and drop-off areas, fares, vehicles and drivers could compromise privacy if disseminated.
“There is a risk that information like pickup and dropoff locations may allow government agencies — or anyone else who obtains this information — to identify individual riders by associating it with publicly available records,” the report said.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
RSS