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Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

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Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#481

Post by zaidf »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #358
zaidf wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My roommate works at Uber as an engineer. He has a pretty high moral bar and I'd bet there are enough like him at Uber that doing shady things systematically would get exposed to the outside world fairly quickly. Notice I said systematically because any company at scale with thousands of employees may have lonewolves doing shady stuff. But that is different than a company culture that endorses or encourages that. I h…

You and your friend are just too naive. There always will be not so honest engineers and you will never know who exactly.

That is not unique to Uber. It is a possibility for any company and for large companies, it introduces major risk of damage. This is why companies have controls in place. If you are arguing that the norms industry-wide should change, then I can understand. If you are saying any of this is unique to Uber and doesn't apply to Google or Apple etc., I would disagree.

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#482

Post by amluto »

lucb1e wrote: post #255
amluto wrote: post #26

I really wish that both Android and iOS had an option to outright prevent an app from doing anything in the background. No sensors, no location, no push notifications, no network access, no CPU time, URL protocols, no nothing. If I don't click the little app icon, the app shouldn't run, full stop.

I don't know which android distribution you're using but mine has that. Can recommend Cyanogenmod with privacy guard to everyone: it allows you to deny wake locks to applications. After doing this my battery chart is flat for 6 hours straight if I don't use my phone (I think that's the longest time I've tried). Telegram is the only application with wake lock permissions left. I once even tried denying my lock screen…

I use CyanogenMod, and denying wake locks doesn't solve this problem. An application can register to receive any number of events that will wake it despite a lack of wake locks, like geofences, alarms, push notifications, waiting for another app to wake the device, etc.

It's the same reason that denying the permission to automatically run on boot is basically useless from a privacy perspective -- the application will just automatically run when some other event happens.

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#484

Post by cOgnaut »

Please forgive my ignorance, but do most hackers leave their phone's GPS antenna turned on most of the time?

And do most hackers update all their apps automatically? I generally do a "broad" update once or twice a year. And I update specific apps as needed (or desired). I would have assumed most hackers would do these kinds of things. It's like putting a tape "lid" over your webcam and only taking it off when you want to use it. Isn't it?

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#486

Post by NurAzhar »

employee8000 wrote: post #234
yladiz wrote: post #34

I saw this earlier and had hopes that the update would just let me choose "While Using" in the app settings, like some other apps allow you even if they request access even while not using the app, but the settings only allow for "Always" or "Never" on iPhone. However, you can use Uber without allowing GPS, so it's not all or nothing. I'm a little disturbed that they need any information after I use Uber though. They…

Uber employee here. We were told the reason to track up to 5 mins after the trip is for fraud, ex if a driver doesn't end the trip when she is supposed to. and to figure out where the pick up spots for each address are. A large building may have multiple points where people get picked up or dropped off and knowing those points would be very useful for the drivers and riders. And just as a side note, take it with a fe…

Can i email to dev for suggestions to eats@uber.com ?

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#487

Post by wheelerwj »

foodstances wrote: post #112
wheelerwj wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so this will disable location and all other data for uber if its not in the foreground?

That's a separate option. Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Uber -> Never

thanks!

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#488

Post by EugeneOZ »

zaidf wrote: post #481
EugeneOZ wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and your friend are just too naive. There always will be not so honest engineers and you will never know who exactly.

That is not unique to Uber. It is a possibility for any company and for large companies, it introduces major risk of damage. This is why companies have controls in place. If you are arguing that the norms industry-wide should change, then I can understand. If you are saying any of this is unique to Uber and doesn't apply to Google or Apple etc., I would disagree.

I'm not trying to say it's unique to Uber, of course. It's reality of our life.

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#489

Post by newman314 »

bastawhiz wrote: post #229
pdkl95 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no universe with perfectly secure software This is why it's important to minimize the attack surface. Yes, there is always going to be risk when you store tracking data. You are choosing to create that risk by storing any data beyond what is specifically necessary . Uses such as "Optimizing pickups and dropoffs" are optional, which you more or less admit when you said it was something "we could do". Alterna…

I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing with you, but I want to raise some important points. Collecting too much data is definitely a bad thing. But there are things to consider: > You are choosing to create that risk by storing any data beyond what is specifically necessary. That's an interesting point and it begs that question of what is "necessary". Does that mean a company should distill its product down the t…

"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should."

I think people could be picked up and dropped off just fine prior to this update so it's not something fundamentally broken. Could things be improved? Sure but the benefits need to be weighed vs. the tradeoff.

Given the many responses that you have gotten so far arguing against your stance, it might be helpful to consider why people are having such a reaction. We have valid concerns and they should be addressed.

Re: Uber Now Tracks Passengers’ Locations Even After They’re Dropped Off

#490

Post by newman314 »

bastawhiz wrote: post #244
phs318u wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, I just want to take the opportunity to thank you for sticking around and taking part in the conversation. While my own thoughts lie mostly with the other respondents in this thread, it's critical that we have channels somewhere in-between "press release" and "Wikileaks" for getting some insight into the workings of companies like Uber. Having said all that, it's still creepy. And the examples you gave (Googl…

I don't want to sound like I'm minimizing the issue, when I say this, because I respect the sentiments expressed here greatly. But there's a very strong stigma around collection of location data, more so than other forms of more sensitive information. Almost every credit card company, bank, insurance company, and more share your every purchase. What you buy, what you eat, how you live. As far as the sensitivity of da…

I'd suggest you read https://www.wired.com/2013/03/anonymous-phone-location-data/ if you have not previously seen this.

Part of the issue is that location has a lot more "physicality" tied to it. One can't easily change where they live, work etc. whereas it's much easier to switch credit cards.

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