MP promises to grill UK.gov over revelations that Uber handed '2,000 pieces' of user data to London cops a year
- Reference: 1600696812
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/21/uber_data_police_david_davis_questions/
- Source link:
The outspoken one-time Brexit Secretary took to Twitter on Friday, sharing a story from The Times reporting on Uber's court efforts to keep its valuable taxi operator's licence in England's capital.
In November 2019, Uber was formally stripped of its licence after what Transport for London (TfL) called a "pattern of failures", including [1]allowing random third parties to upload their mugshots to legitimate Uber driver accounts , bypassing background checks.
Last week Westminster Magistrates' Court heard the American taxi-hailing app's latest appeal against its loss of licence – including revelations that the Metropolitan Police and TfL alike benefited from "thousands of pieces of intelligence on drivers, passengers and journeys each year," as The Times [2]reported .
Davis expressed the fear that in its desperation to keep its licence, Uber had formed a Faustian pact with police and TfL, silently surveilling its passengers and drivers alike in the hope of buying itself a licence renewal by greasing the deal with customers' data.
I have tabled Parliamentary Questions to the Home Office and Freedom of Information requests to police forces around the country seeking further information. — David Davis (@DavidDavisMP) [3]September 18, 2020
Police units supporting Uber's appeal, according to written arguments seen by the newspaper, included the National Police Chiefs' Council, the National Crime Agency, and the British Transport Police. A police manager wrote to TfL in a letter shown to the court boasting that Uber had handed over user data more than 2,000 times per year.
The finding is not inconsistent with the taxi app operators' [4]actions in the US , though it also used a cop-blocking technology called Greyball to [5]detect and cancel ride bookings made by undercover police workers looking for violations of local regulations .
We have asked Uber to comment on Davis's statements.
The case at Westminster Mags Court ran from 14-17 September and a ruling on Uber's appeal over losing its license is due next week. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/25/uber_loses_licence_to_operate_in_london/
[2] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uber-gives-police-private-data-on-drivers-and-passengers-dm7l3gsxv
[3] https://twitter.com/DavidDavisMP/status/1306985271536291840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2016/04/12/uber_baulks_request_for_user_info/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/09/uber_quits_greyballing_cops/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Dirty business?
It's been that way since the days of Nixon... he just got caught.
The sooner Uber goes under the better.
>The sooner Uber goes under the better.
What we need is an app to allow ordinary black cab drivers to report people they suspect to be undesirables
A bunch of corrupt cowboys desperate to meet their productivity targets at any cost. Take your pick.
A bunch of corrupt cowboys desperate to meet their productivity targets at any cost.
That doesn't really narrow it down.
Actually, now that I come to think of it, there's quite a few others who meet that description as well...
>A bunch of corrupt cowboys desperate to meet their productivity targets at any cost
And uber is enabling them
My surprise alarm did not go off with this. Which is strange because it has also never gone off with any revelations of companies sharing information with the authorities and being allowed to continue in their nefarious activities. One day I may yet be surprised. I also doubt it will go off when it is ruled they can continue their business.
A deal like this makes both sides look corrupt. But especially the cops.
"We do not have a warrant, but we will pull your license to operate if you don't turn over the data" is far more corrupt than "I will turn over rider data if you ignore this infraction".
However, do we have any evidence that the conversation wasn't a combination of:
"We were rather hoping you could share some information on this individual." "Sure, no problem."
and
"Hey, this chap's been flagged several of our fraud detection systems. You couldn't take a look, see if he's being naughty could you?" "Well, we'll be able to do him for money laundering at the very least, so sure, it'll help boost conviction rates."
No corruption, no illegality.
>A deal like this makes both sides look corrupt
It's really unbelievable - who let Uber join the masons anyway ?
Don't feed the Beast
Dale Gribble was right! Or was that Rusty Shackleford? In any case, don't feed the beast!
Aw, Man!
You've forced me to agree with David Davies!
You bastards.
"Police units supporting Uber's appeal"
Well duh. The Police these days are just an extension of the NSA - they want all the data they can get whether it is pertinent to the case or not.
And it's very nice to know that Uber sends thousands of user data to the police - how much of that sharing actually brought a condemnation ?
How much of it was actually useful in court ?
That's the other problem I have with all this data sharing going on. Law enforcement all over the world now steadfastly declares that it is very useful to them, but never declares how many cases they won because of it.
Dirty business?
Sadly, no. Just normal business these days. The only offence is getting caught.