Uber and Google Under Scrutiny for Misuse of Personal Data

In a recent controversy Uber was slapped with “sexism and misogyny” accusations by Pando Daily’s Sarah Lacy. She stated in her article “I still can’t believe that an office of Uber a Company valued at $18 billion and held up as a bastion of modern entrepreneurship — posted an ad that encouraged, played on, and celebrated treating women who may choose to drive cars to make extra money like hookers.”

She declared that she was deleting her Uber app after BuzzFeed News reported that Uber appeared to be working with a French escort service. “I don’t know how many more signals we need that the company simply doesn’t respect us or prioritize our safety,” she wrote.

A senior executive at Uber retaliated by suggesting that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company.

In another allegation, a Buzzfeed reporter accused a top NY Uber executive of tracking her without her knowledge. Johana Bhuiyan, the reporter in concern was apparently tracked using a feature known as “God View” that is available to Uber employees and allows them to see logs of Uber customer activity.

Uber’s data privacy policy clearly states otherwise- Uber has a strict policy prohibiting all employees at every level from accessing a rider or driver’s data. The only exception to this policy is for a limited set of legitimate business purposes. Our policy has been communicated to all employees and contractors.

Amidst this controversy another debate emerged about Google tracking and flagging user search history. Hacker news brought forth a recent case where people looking up Phython program and related topics were automatically directed to a test page in an attempt to hire potential programmers. “Google tracking searches for serving ads is well known but it will not be long before they move from ads to Foobar pages.” A journalist at network world quoted.

With an upsurge of tracking devices and smart phones making personal information accessible to everyone ranging from government agencies to healthcare services and online cab booking applications, personal data is under a dire threat of being exposed and potentially misused.