海角大神

"Where are you?"

It鈥檚 a question Uber drivers and passengers are all too familiar with in their attempts to coordinate a pickup location.

The ride聽hailer hopes to solve this problem with a new policy that allows it to track a user's location from the initiation of a trip up to five minutes after they reach their destination, even if the mobile application is running in the background.

But internet privacy and civil liberty advocates are concerned at how much personal data Uber is asking users to blindly share with it.

鈥淪ome people choose to disclose a lot of information. That鈥檚 their choice. Others do not. That鈥檚 their choice. They key is to always respect the decisions people make,鈥� says Marc Rotenberg, president and executive director of the Boston-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). 鈥淲hen Uber decides 鈥� having said to several million customers in the US, 鈥榊ou can choose to be tracked while you鈥檙e using the service, but you don鈥檛 have to be tracked all the time鈥� 鈥� then changes that without people knowing it, it takes away the users鈥� opportunity to make that decision.鈥�

In anticipation of Uber鈥檚 new policy, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June 2015. In the complaint, the internet privacy advocate charges Uber with 鈥�,鈥� citing the ride hailer's previous misuse of customer data.

Since Uber considers itself a digital service that pairs drivers with passengers, knowing where its users are is inherent to its success. But the ride hailer has been muddled in questions over how it monitors the location of its users and secures their information. In the past, Uber attempted to resolve these complaints by trying to be more sensitive to the privacy of its users.

But this newest policy has EPIC and other internet privacy advocates claiming Uber has much more access to users鈥� personal data than it is letting on. The policy also renews the debate over how much access not just Uber, but other digital services, including Google and Amazon, should have, and who should regulate them to keep them in line.

Uber previously collected data from a user only if the application was open on their smartphone. If a user accepts this new policy, part of a recent application update, Uber can track their location even when the application is running in the background. That means Uber can see where you end up after you leave the car, as NPR writes.

On its website, Uber says it does this 鈥�.鈥澛�

Users can choose not to share their geo-location, which would mean they would have to manually enter in their pickup location and destination for each trip.

Naked Security, a cybersecurity news site, expands on Uber's claims that the additional tracking is in the . For instance, if a rider has to cross the street to reach his or her destination, the Uber driver hasn't dropped the rider off at the exact location and exposes the rider to additional risks, such as getting hit by a car when crossing the street.聽

Uber has said it plans to monitor the location of riders only during and immediately after a ride. But Greg Leppert, who is affiliated with Harvard University鈥檚 Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, is concerned about the amount of data Uber could conceivably gather.

鈥淯ber is forcing users to trust that it will abide by self-imposed restrictions on collection, and that it鈥檒l use that data responsibly not only today, but far into the future,鈥� writes Mr. Leppert in an email to 海角大神 on Monday.

Leppert mentions cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier鈥檚 description of data as a 鈥�,鈥� which should be collected infrequently and disposed of as soon as it has fulfilled its purpose. 鈥淚nstead of taking this prudent approach, Uber appears to view data collection as a casual commodity easily justified in the name of product experience,鈥� writes Leppert.

Uber has faced scrutiny before for how it manages the personal data of its users. In 2014, a BuzzFeed reporter, Johana Bhuiyan, alleged Uber鈥檚 New York general manager, Josh Mohrer, told her when the two met at the company鈥檚 New York headquarters that he had just been 鈥溾�� her Uber ride. This prompted an investigation by the New York Attorney General鈥檚 Office into Uber executives鈥� ability to access riders鈥� locations, known internally as 鈥淕od View,鈥� according to CBS News. In January 2016, Uber reached for that case and a separate incident last year involving a data breach by an unauthorized third party.

At the same time, Uber tried to change , which Keith Chen, Uber鈥檚 chief economic researcher, talked about with NPR鈥檚 Shankar Vedantam in May. Dr. Chen said the company implemented procedures to limit the intrusiveness of its data collection, including the appointment of a privacy officer, and training and services for employees.

鈥淲e do have access to a tremendous amount of data,鈥� said Chen. 鈥淲e have to take very seriously this responsibility that we're becoming a big part of how people move around the world. And we just want to be very careful with that.鈥�

But the new app policy Uber also previewed in May has angered privacy advocates as well as the public. In EPIC鈥檚 FTC complaint, commenters said they deleted the app out of privacy concerns.

"I do not want to be tracked and, I certainly don鈥檛 want to give Uber permission to access my contacts,鈥� one commenter wrote.

These concerns are consistent with American attitudes about digital privacy. In a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, a vast majority of respondents said the amount of personal data an app collects could whether they download it or delete it from their phone. After they discovered how much personal information an app required, 6 in 10 respondents said they chose not to install it. Another 43 percent said they uninstalled an app they had previously downloaded.

But Uber isn鈥檛 the only digital company to spark privacy fears. Google has often drawn criticism for how it collects and stores information. In 2014, it faced a lawsuit in California from plaintiffs who alleged the company violated wiretapping laws by scanning their emails. It鈥檚 also widely known Google of questions they ask through Google鈥檚 voice search or the voice-activated assistant, Google Now, as Wired reports. On-command digital listening devices such as Amazon鈥檚 Alexa and Google Home have also prompted debates about whether they are listening in to conversations in the kitchen, living room, or bedroom and storing that information.

Dealing with these concerns has also proved challenging for regulators. The FTC has largely become responsible for overseeing digital privacy in the United States, although EPIC has said Washington should adopt internet privacy laws instead. The European Union has a set of rules on internet privacy that will take effect in 2018, but they ask businesses to adopt strict regulations over the next two years.

But society will also have to decide what鈥檚 OK and what鈥檚 not.

"What are the right ways to set the dials so we can maintain privacy and also enjoy these new technologies?鈥� Trevor Hughes,聽chief executive of the聽International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), told the Monitor recently.聽鈥淲e can foresee that there will be flash points, but they haven鈥檛 happened yet."

The FTC has not moved on the EPIC complaint against Uber. Sen. Al Franken (D) of Minnesota, who previously has been critical of Uber, told NPR he plans to look at the issue further.