Uber investigation 'did not answer many questions' on its privacy policies says US senator Al Franken
Uber has come under fire after an internal investigation into its privacy practises was found to come up short by the US senator whose comments sparked it.
Uber has come under fire as it has to shape up its privacy policy
The cab-hailing company launched the investigation after US senator Al Franken slated its 'troubling disregard for customers’ privacy' in November. In its response letter to Franken, the company attempted to address some of the senators concerns over privacy breaches at Uber.
Firstly, Uber issued a response regarding executive Michael Emil’s boast the he was willing to use investigators to dig up dirt on hostile journalists. Uber deemed the comments “ill-considered” and agreed that had he followed through with the threat that it would have been a “gross invasion of privacy”.
Furthermore, the firm addressed Franken's concern over New York City general manager Josh Mohrer tracking a journalist using the app’s GPS tracking capability, known as 'God View'.
It claimed, Mohrer, who was to meet with a 30-minutes-late journalist, accessed her Uber car’s GPS to determine when she would arrive: "Mr Mohrer believed that he had a legitimate purpose for looking at the reporter’s location to determine when she was arriving at the office for their meeting, Uber regarded his judgement in this instance to be poor and disciplined him accordingly."
Uber said: “We care deeply about the privacy of the information we hold about our riders… Uber prohibits employees from accessing rider personal information except for legitimate business purposes.”
Franken responded on Monday (15 November): “I recently pressed Uber to explain the scope, transparency, and enforceability of their privacy policies.
“Quite frankly, [Uber] did not answer many of the questions I posed directly to them. Most importantly, it still remains unclear how Uber defines legitimate business purposes for accessing, retaining, and sharing customer data. I will continue pressing for answers to these questions."
Uber has had had a rough few months, in the last two weeks, Uber Pop was banned in France and the wider Uber service was dropped in Thailand, Spain and India.