Tech Musing 3 - Uber Transparency Report

James Stewart

April 19, 2016

Tech Musing 3

Article Link: http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/12/uber-shared-14-million-users-info-with-the-government-transparency-report-says/

In this piece by TechCrunch, the author examines the first ever transparency report ever released by ride-sharing company Uber. This report, which is common practice with tech companies, outlines what kind of information it shares to the US Government about its business and its riders. The most shocking fact from the transparency report – that Uber had to comply with US regulators to give them information of 14 million of its riders. Even more astonishing, this report only covers the last six months of 2015. That means that in this short time frame, in the form of only 33 requests, the government instantly had access to sensitive customer information. While the report does mention that no personal info was released (name, address, phone number, email address, etc.), the company still gave up other data such as rider patterns. This is something, Uber noted, that is unnecessary for the US Government to have and gives them access to bits of information that they didn’t actually need. Further, the article explains that this isn’t the first time that the ride sharing service has been at odds with the government. Earlier this year, they actually were fined 7.6 million dollars because many of their vehicles were not accessible or safe for disabled riders.

This article really got me thinking and I believe there are a couple key takeaways that MIS professionals can learn. This isn’t just about this one six-month period where the privacy was breached of millions of customers. Where, by the way, 99% of which probably had no clue that their privacy was being breached. It is more about the greater debate about privacy we are having in this country today. From encryption, backdoors, government spying and influence on tech, this undoubtedly is a pervasive issue. It is incredibly important for anyone who works in technology to understand this issue so that they can be properly informed and inclined to take political action. Laws are being discussed everyday that infringe on our online privacy, and it is our duty as citizens to join the debate and educate less technology-savvy individuals so that they can join the conversation too.

Another key takeaway that is important to us as MIS students is the fact that we, as consumers, willingly give away personal information to these tech companies. We accept end user agreements often without reading them and then proceed to dump our info onto these websites and apps. I think it’s important to remember that while the mainstream media frames the debate as “our privacy” vs. “the government wanting to take our privacy”, there is little attention to the amount of info viewable by these tech firms. I think about all the photos I’ve shared on Facebook, all the credit cards I have saved on Amazon and all the rides I have taken on Uber and I become scared knowing that they can see all of this.