Sophos Cloud Optix
Last year, Uber gave us a heads-up about its new privacy policy and how it had given itself permission to routinely track our locations even after we’ve left the car, following us as we sally forth into businesses, cross the street, or head for our doctors’ appointments, even if the app is only running in the background.
Now, with the latest update to the app – version 3.222.4 – Uber has put that into practice and is now tracking your location constantly if you’ve got the app running in the background. Oh, and it’s also asking that you always share your address book. Until now it had only collected your location data if you had the app open.
When Uber announced the change to its policy in May last year, it incurred the displeasure of just about everyone concerned about privacy, not to mention the Federal Trade Commission (the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed this complaint [PDF] with the FTC about the change).
As the Center noted in its complaint, back when it announced the change in May 2015, Uber said that tracking passengers in real time and accessing users’ address books were merely “potential new use cases” of its customers’ data.
The change was meant to “get people on their way more quickly,” Uber said. As it was, Uber apps for iOS, Android and Windows phones could only fetch location data if they were open, sometimes creating a slight delay.
Most communication between drivers and their customers has been of the “Where are you?!?” variety, Uber says – a needless batch of confusion that can be done away with if it can pinpoint customers’ locations more precisely.
As far as following people after they get out of a car goes, the company has cited safety concerns: if you cross the street, it means a driver hasn’t dropped you off at your exact location, and all that street-crossing incurs the possibility you’ll get run over.
Why access users’ contact lists in their address books? Uber says it’s got to do with splitting a fare with other riders.
Are we all steaming frogs?
Is the issue here that Uber is slowly heating up the frog in the pot – in other words, its customers – so they don’t notice declining privacy?
Or is it that people who use Uber have never been the type to care about privacy in the first place?
It’s not as if Uber users don’t express outrage at its ever-expanding collection of data. The Electronic Privacy Information Center provided a plethora of comments in its complaint, such as these that followed last year’s announcement:
Wow. Until I know more – I’ve deleted the Uber app and will not use it again. Sad, it works so well.
That is very creepy. Uber now wants to track your location at all times.
That could be a useful resource for the police, FBI, NSA, hackers, etc.
Now, the upcoming change in Uber’s Privacy Policy means that I will have to stop using their service. I do not want to be tracked and, I certainly don’t want to give Uber permission to access my contacts. If my contacts wanted to use Uber, they would create an Uber account on their own. I do not wish to be responsible for putting the privacy of my family and friends at risk. Therefore, I will soon say farewell to Uber. It was great while it lasted. Onwards to the alternative: buying a car of my own.
Uber’s history has given us much to be concerned about. EPIC’s complaint (PDF) has a thorough chronology of its checkered past, which has included using a “God view” tool to track riders and to display information in an aerial view; a data breach, caused by Uber itself, that exposed hundreds of Uber driver names, social security numbers, pictures of driving licenses, tax forms and other sensitive information; its months-long failure to report that breach to the drivers; its poking at a journalist’s personal data (twice), tracking her movements without her permission; and, well, the incident list goes on.
Meanwhile, Uber has run into regulatory issues around the world and sparked protests in cities from London (pictured) and Paris to Warsaw and Melbourne, among others
What will save those customers who don’t jump out of the pot before they boil?
There are lawmakers and law enforcers who’ve tried to put the brakes on Uber. In January, New York’s attorney-general settled with Uber over a probe into the driver data breach. The upshot: Uber was required to encrypt rider geolocation information and to adopt multifactor authentication before any employee could access especially sensitive rider personal information.
Uber has also been taken to task by US Senator Al Franken over the anti-journalist privacy debacle.
What to do?
Uber’s app will work without any automatic access to your contacts or your location, although obviously getting and sharing Uber rides won’t be quite so frictionless (as user interface experts like to call it) if you deny the app access to this data altogether.
On iOS you have to opt in to sharing your contact and location data, on Android you have to opt out, but either way we recommend you don’t just accept the defaults.
Given Uber’s previous history, we think it’s wise to:
- Decide how much you want to share with Uber.
- Go into the privacy settings relevant to the Uber app and make sure the active settings actually do reflect your decision from step (1).
Of course, that’s sound advice for any app: even if you think the defaults will suit you just fine, go and check that you’re getting the settings you want.
Oh, and when there’s an update, whether to the app or to your phone’s OS, review your settings in case there’s a brand new privacy option with a default you didn’t expect.
Remember: if in doubt, don’t give it out.
One more option to opt-out: Uninstall the stupid app and use gett instead.
Hmm. I automatically close many apps and turn off location services when not in use, because of data charges and battery drain — I’ll have to make doubly sure I do this when using Uber.
Much of their reasoning is sensible from a business perspective, which is at least better than having no reasoning at all. But they are still one more (very weighty) vote in the privacy vs usability debate and I’m not reassured by the side they’ve come down on…
A correction: on iOS, sharing your location with the Uber app in the background is opt-in, not opt-out (as the OS requires). The opt-in dialog displays a lengthy message explaining the purpose of the location, just as in this post.
I can’t speak to the experience on Android.
Good point. In fact, we changed the article a bit to mention this, and to make our advice a bit more general. (See the updated What do do? section.)
Thanks for this comment – appreciated.
Uninstalled the app as the opt-out options were not available on my Android. Why it needs alsoaccess to pictures, flashlight, etc I do not understand unless it’s just lazy programming or the fact they can get away with it. Apps from other countries can install and work well with just basic access – I’ll stop/pause if you’re getting a call. No silent access to camera, etc.
Wouldn’t closing the App when you exit the cab also save this issue?
Don’t Marshmallow and Nougat give you granular permissions per app? So you can stop any app you like from using an permission you like?
I think so. Sadly, the majority of Androiders aren’t using versions 6 (Marshmallow) or 7 (Nougat); a significant proportion will never be able to use them due to having the wrong sort of hardware; and yet other people have handsets that could in theory run 6 or 7 but are locked into an older Android version by the their supplier. For older Androids, app developers (and app users) are kind of stuck with the “ask for every permission you might need in advance because there won’t be a chance later on”.
Duck, at that: I’m currently seeking an (unlocked, Verizon) Android phone specifically for rooting with issues like this in mind. I realize you can’t really endorse stuff here, but if you can afford some general thoughts your insight would be invaluable.
I’d nearly pounced on a Nexus for the rooting traits but stopped short due to fixed battery and no SD slot. I’ll grumble about–yet concede–a battery I can’t replace but can’t compromise on an SD card: remove it when the device gets serviced, sold, or trashed. Far less PII in the wind–which would be sort of the opposite of not having backups until one’s computer crashes.
I had a Nexus 7 2012 until Google silently stopped supporting it (OK, I still have it and it has a hacked ROM now but I don’t use it seriously any more). It was annoying to have it silently dropped without warning, but that’s how it goes these days.
I’ve never replaced a battery in any device I’ve pwned (never needed to) and I’ve never used an SD card in any device that incorporates a slot. If the device is encrypted then wiping it is pretty straightforward (and anyway I wouldn’t trust just removing the SD card). On a rooted device you can backup any files you want if that’s important, and that’s always been OK for me.
Hey thanks! I can find a consolation prize in encryption–my older phone predates doing that easily.
I still like SD cards for rapid transfer of media between phone/tablet/desktop. Sneakernet can often be faster, as I spend a fair amount of time away from immediate online access–and no sync solution yet has mastered all my platforms sans WiFi or Cloud, which I don’t like trusting anyway. Good point on trusting media removal–I’ve wondered myself how many tidbits remain on the device that one might intuitively assume aren’t. Encryption+backups solves that at least.
On air gaps and battery: I did retain my DroidX long enough to need a replacement, but even a new battery strains with extended trips out of radio coverage. [i.e.] Running the Pikes Peak Ascent (pikespeakmarathon.org) makes a GPS track a great memento, but with most of the mountain out of mobile service, the battery drains rapidly in a search for 3G/4G/roaming signal. I suppose one answer is simply to run faster 🙂
This was my first motivation to root a phone: “airplane mode” with GPS. Mobile chargers do work but leave a rather fragile connector in a vulnerable, violently-jostled position for extended periods. I should’ve said “additional” instead of “replace[ment].”
Thanks again!
With an On-The-Go USB connector (OTG) you can plug a USB drive into a Nexus and copy files onto it. With a new ROM for the recovery partition (e.g. TWRP) you can backup your device right from recovery mode.
Why not uninstall the App and use a professional driving a fully insured and licenced genuine TAXI
As soon as I install any App, the first thing I do is change the default permissions given to the app.
Deny access to send/receive messages, Make phone calls, read messages, read MMS, read contacts, access camera.
Once you are done with your journey turn off the GPS, deny access to all tracking tools.
Pretty much this applies to any app.
This is an interesting, but common scam nowadays. The US Constitution says the government of United States cannot enter your premises or rummage through your mail without a search warrant or your permission. The “your permission” part of that right is what certain people in certain companies are exploiting so they can undermine your rights. These companies are saying, give us permission to let us take copies of your email or let us track your movements or let us access your email address book just because it is convenient and we can, just sign on the dotted line or else we won’t let you have a job with us or provide whatever service we are offering. Your mistake.
You didn’t have these kinds of contractual agreements before the Internet, e.g. — fax us copies of your postal mail or let us hire someone to follow you around and record your every movement or give us a copy of your personal address book. It would have been too creepy or intrusive or we would have told them that it was personal information and none of their damn business, but the Internet is “invisible”, so if a bunch of creeps follow you around from a remote site, you don’t notice so you don’t care. These same creeps have a copy of your address book on their computer, but you never saw them actually copy it, so you don’t have to think about it. Your mistake.
What’s next from these kind of creeps? Maybe they will have you sign a contract that says you must swear to become a member of a certain religion, and since you gave us permission to watch you, we will know if you break your vows? Or maybe sex or politics will somehow become involved. All you have to do is give them permission to abuse you in ways you would have never agreed to 20 years ago. Your mistake.
You might be thinking, just don’t sign the contract then. The problem is, small companies don’t engage in this kind of behavior, only big or popular companies do, so your chances of finding what you are looking for that hasn’t been overtaken by this kind of scam, are slim to none. You need to learn the value of sacrifice. Pass by that job or that service, no matter how painful it is for you to do so, because what they are asking you to sign is unethical. But no, you are passively sitting there, letting people slowly erode yours and everyone else’s rights away, one person at a time, until someday, no one will have rights anymore. Your mistake.
A few years ago, I left my work phone in the seatback pocket after a UA redeye to EWR. I called customer service and gave them my flight info. Within an hour, someone from the airline called to get my mailing address and a credit card number to bill for shipping. They overnighted the phone to me via FedEx. Gotta say, I was pretty pleased with the experience.
From one point it’s good that you are seeing by uber apps, because if something bad happened to you ubber app knows your last location. But from other point uber will watch your location always and I think this feeling not be great.