They don’t and if they did, I can say “independent contractor” and that’s it. I have only done one Uber pickup since they went totally stupid. I do Lyft exclusively now
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Okay, let’s see what permissions their app wants. Android version:
This app has access to:
Identity
find accounts on the device
add or remove accounts
read your own contact card
Contacts
find accounts on the device
read your contacts
Location
approximate location (network-based)
precise location (GPS and network-based)
SMS
read your text messages (SMS or MMS)
receive text messages (SMS)
send SMS messages
Phone
directly call phone numbers
read phone status and identity
Photos/Media/Files
read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Storage
read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Camera
take pictures and videos
Wi-Fi connection information
view Wi-Fi connections
Device ID & call information
read phone status and identity
Other
receive data from Internet
view network connections
pair with Bluetooth devices
access Bluetooth settings
full network access
run at startup
use accounts on the device
control vibration
prevent device from sleeping
modify system settings
read Google service configuration
Hmm. A lot of these, any app will need for basic stuff, but … take pictures and videos? Access all your files?
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I said cover their loans (the ones from Uber), not eat!
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But then do they get the (part-paid-for) car back to sell again via loan to someone else?
(Sorry, my cynicism got stuck dialed to ‘high’)
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Another detail that almost no software has a legitimate need-to-know(beyond what API level to target); but I’d certainly be the last to argue that Android would do much to make fingerprinting a phone in considerable detail even vaguely challenging(and while iOS may be slightly better in terms of telling applications to shove off, the total number of distinct models is so low that fingerprinting is going to be trivial); that just strikes me as a real vice given how…enthusiastic…contemporary software is about getting to know you better and send the dossier back to HQ.
I’m not expecting any improvement(all kinds of cool fingerprinting attacks have been demonstrated even for situations where the targeted software and/or hardware were actually intended to be resistant to fingerprinting; and it’s not as though one of the world’s more influential advertising companies or its telco buddies, even want Android to be hostile to fingerprinting attempts); just futilely registering my dissatisfaction with the current state of mobile OS permissions.
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I’m totally on your side. I wish I could ride in your car - but I’m in the UK!
The idea of Uber is fantastic, if partially horridly implemented (the drivers in the UK have been having a spat with Uber).
It’s the tech culture, the behind the scenes, that’s making things wrong.
I don’t know what happens next, and in no way do I wish a single Uber driver any ill - every single one I’ve dealt with has been fantastic - but I can’t give money to an organisation that reinforces, even creates new versions of, the inequitable culture that could deny my intelligent, beautiful, driven female children the future they deserve.
And on that - tech geeks, this is fair warning: They know the gig, and they’re comin’ to getcha. And in all seriousness, you do not want to mess with them - they will mess with your heads.
As an aside, Kickstarter issued some kind of annual report email saying 61% female, including at board level. Kudos.
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If you ever come to Nashville, let me know. I’ll take you around the city, no Uber/Lyft needed!
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Everything mentioned before that was already completely illegal in the whole EU.
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Jerwin:
Have you ever read a post and said, OMG this is a brilliant idea! I must tell this person! Then I read the comment more clearly. I misread it. But my misread idea still excites me.
Imagine the people who want to track how government destroys regulations using data mining and greyball tactics to track down the dark money connections, the above board connections, the payoffs and then the deadly cost to human life.
This is something that a group like NRDC /Serria Club could run in conjunction with then media.
Data mining journalism with a goal toward reestablishing the specific people and. Companies that are responsible for environmental catstophries.
But of course this group would be investigated for hampering the work of federal employees.
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Sometimes I think that I’m far too cynical for my own good.
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EULAs have no legal value outside of the USA, and even there…
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Would love to!
I always assumed that the huge cut Uber take out of the drivers’ earnings was to fund a lavish lifestyle for the management. Who’ve thought it was to fund a private intelligence service.
I’m sure there is a spy-tech TV series in here somewhere. Our heroes operate an international intelligence gathering organisation via an Uber-style front.
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