4 ms·

> Uber collects your location data from the time of trip request through five minutes after ends trip ends, including when the app is in the background. We do t

> Uber collects your location data from the time of trip request through five minutes after ends trip ends, including when the app is in the background. We do this to improve pickups, drop-offs, customer service, and to enhance safety. Meh, sounds reasonable as long as they don't collect data outside this window (although they should not make it all-or-nothing, a third option of "While in use" would be better).

djeikyb 10y ago
"While in use" is exactly what they used to do. It allowed the driver to see my location as long as I left the app open. Now the uber app is unreasonable. It demands permission to stalk me at any time, else I use a hobbled version of the app.
redditmigrant 10y ago
The problem is that there is no user-facing setting that can say, 5 minutes only. So going from 5 to 10 to always becomes a decision that can be taken without informing the user at all.
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
This is how the Overton Window shifts. Trouble is, now I have to walk 5 minutes in the opposite direction before turning around and meeting my dealer / going to the brothel / whatever you don't want posted on paste bin. Another issue arises when a "bug" records your location for 5 hours instead of 5 minutes.
- cmontella 10y ago
  Yup, which is a strong possibility for Uber. I had an Uber charge me for a ride that continued for 12 hours after I had been dropped off. Uber had no problem billing me >$300 for this. If they don't have safeguards in place for questionable fare collection, they surely don't have safeguards in place for questionable data collection.
  - greggman 10y ago
    I'm not saying that didn't happen but it makes zero sense. The user chooses a destination and the app tracks where the driver is so it's reasonable to assume if the driver got within 100 meters of the destination the ride ended within 1-2 minutes of that time. They should just pad by 1-2 minutes and then assume the ride ended. In fact they could make it the exception not to end it by sending a "How was the ride" message to both driver and customer and they both have to pick "Not finished" for it to continue.
- ajdlinux 10y ago
  Can you manually Force Stop the Uber app to avoid this as a somewhat-awful workaround?
  - hiram112 10y ago
    On a rooted Android I use Greenify for all apps that I don't want running while I'm not using. Without root, you could force disable the app when not using, but you would have to re-enable it manually.
crazysim 10y ago
It's a very reasonable reason. It sounds like something that would be reasonable to expand the APIs on the OS to allow and enforce.

djeikyb 10y ago

"While in use" is exactly what they used to do. It allowed the driver to see my location as long as I left the app open. Now the uber app is unreasonable. It demands permission to stalk me at any time, else I use a hobbled version of the app.

redditmigrant 10y ago

The problem is that there is no user-facing setting that can say, 5 minutes only. So going from 5 to 10 to always becomes a decision that can be taken without informing the user at all.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

This is how the Overton Window shifts. Trouble is, now I have to walk 5 minutes in the opposite direction before turning around and meeting my dealer / going to the brothel / whatever you don't want posted on paste bin. Another issue arises when a "bug" records your location for 5 hours instead of 5 minutes.

cmontella 10y ago
Yup, which is a strong possibility for Uber. I had an Uber charge me for a ride that continued for 12 hours after I had been dropped off. Uber had no problem billing me >$300 for this. If they don't have safeguards in place for questionable fare collection, they surely don't have safeguards in place for questionable data collection.
- greggman 10y ago
  I'm not saying that didn't happen but it makes zero sense. The user chooses a destination and the app tracks where the driver is so it's reasonable to assume if the driver got within 100 meters of the destination the ride ended within 1-2 minutes of that time. They should just pad by 1-2 minutes and then assume the ride ended. In fact they could make it the exception not to end it by sending a "How was the ride" message to both driver and customer and they both have to pick "Not finished" for it to continue.
ajdlinux 10y ago
Can you manually Force Stop the Uber app to avoid this as a somewhat-awful workaround?
- hiram112 10y ago
  On a rooted Android I use Greenify for all apps that I don't want running while I'm not using. Without root, you could force disable the app when not using, but you would have to re-enable it manually.

crazysim 10y ago

It's a very reasonable reason. It sounds like something that would be reasonable to expand the APIs on the OS to allow and enforce.