Earlier quoted context omitted.
The last Lyft I took had two big stickers on the rear passenger-side window warning that by getting into the car, I give consent to being videotaped and audio recorded. But what are you going to do? Not get in? Then you have to pay a no-show fee, and eventually get banned from the app.
Either “vote with your wallet” , which large companies love as it gives them the power (they have a bigger wallet), or vote with your vote and elect representatives which stop this.
And when all the choices of representative have already been bought and paid for with the lobbying power of that larger wallet?
This topic is especially nefarious as it's not just Lyft a representative has to worry about. Every company out there craves data; if not for direct usage, then for resale. Someone campaigning for privacy / data reform would be pissing off nearly every tech company in existence. So even if Lyft isn't lobbying (and we know they are), there's plenty of others that would be upset by stronger laws here.
It sure seems to me that we lost the privacy war a long time ago. Most houses have a slew of microphones and cameras owned by very large corporations, that came with legalese in the box stating they can do whatever the hell they want. And people plugged them in. Everyone carries smartphones tracking where the go, most loaded with apps harvesting as much data as Apple/Google lets them get away with, not to mention what Apple/Google are doing themselves.
I fear we are getting closer and closer to the time when the population finds out why we had those laws in the first place. There's an inflection point here that scares the hell out of me.