BackUber releases new, simpler privacy policy for more transparency
The new policy is half as long as before, with much less legal jargon, says the company
Premium
Cab hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. released a new privacy policy, which it said is simpler to understand than its earlier policy, amid rising clamour for Internet firms to make their privacy practices more transparent to users.
Revenue models of large Internet companies including Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. rely on collecting and using data of individual users to show ads and products. The policies of many Internet companies are said to be intentionally unclear and jargon-heavy, like the risk advisory in mutual fund schemes, to keep users in the dark about how their data may be used for making money.
“In the last few months, we have doubled the size of our privacy team, overhauled our data protection training for employees, published an external review of our privacy programme and hired Joe Sullivan, a former cybercrime prosecutor, as our chief security officer," said Katherine Tassi, managing counsel of data privacy at Uber. “(The new policies) are half as long as before, with much less legal jargon. And they are available in 23 languages... the vast majority of the languages spoken in the 57 countries where Uber operates," Tassi wrote on the Uber site on Tuesday.
Tassi said the new policy would allow Uber to ask for access to a rider’s location when its app is “running in the background". “In addition, these changes would allow Uber to launch new promotional features that use contacts—for example, the ability to send special offers to riders’ friends or family. In either case, users will be in control: they will be able to choose whether to share the data with Uber," she said.
In India, the Information Technology Act (ITA), 2000, covers issues such as data privacy and hacking. However, experts say India needs a new set of policies to protect users’ privacy from Internet firms as well as potential surveillance by the government. A September 2014 report by the Software Freedom Law Centre, an India-based organization that provides free legal services, said India is violating its citizens’ privacy through online monitoring systems.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
