Uber formerly was into tracking the rivals, the police, and the user as well. Related to that the brand is now incorporating steps to augment its reputation where the user base will be now adequately secured with regards to privacy.
The brand is strategizing to discard the feature which makes it eavesdrop on the user base for a time period of five minutes post ride as noted by Uber’s security chief Joe Sullivan. Initially, this will be subject to roll out for the iPhone users and soon it will be incorporated into the Android platform as well.
Last year, Uber subjected its privacy guidelines for some refinement related to probing the riders after the ride is over. The passengers earlier could avail the feature for Uber to assimilate data only when the app is currently being manipulated by them. The update features last November, discarded the feature and the users were forced to manipulate the option of Uber tracking them with only two choices “Never” and “Always”. This was met with intense backlash and negative criticism. Now it is signified that Uber has paid attention to the outrage associated with the user base.
Other sources indicate that Apple played a major role in implementing the change. Apple’s iOS 11 version will ensure that the app will be associated with the single “Only when Using” location sharing option which was expunged before by the ride-hailing giant. This could be a major reason as to why Uber is launching the changes only for the iPhone users at present.
Uber was previously overwhelmed by a wave of controversies which took place over the last few months where it was reported that the ride-hailing giant had breached the privacy of the user base by a very wide extent. This March disclosed was the news that Uber manipulated a program called “Greyball” to snoop on the law enforcement agencies which were subjecting Uber to investigations. The following month, news surfaced that Uber was manipulating a program by name Hell to spy on the Lyft drivers so as to determine who were also driving for Uber. Further, it was manipulated into tempting the driver base who operated for both the brands back into Uber alone.
Uber signifies that it is contemplating user’s privacy on an important note by quashing the feature which makes it probe on users once their rides are over. However, this does not imply that Uber will stop its process of accumulating user data in the subsequent times. This could be somewhat comprehensible and clear related to the same. In the event Uber wants to spy on the rider base once the ride is complete, the brand will permit the user base to opt-in, where correspondingly it informs them regarding the importance of the worth of the data assimilated by the brand.
