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The privacy implications of this are concerning. How long will these recordings be kept? Will the recordings, or excerpts from them, be sold to third parties?

The privacy implications of this are concerning. How long will these recordings be kept? Will the recordings, or excerpts from them, be sold to third parties? I can see recorded conversations being used to extract data that is anonymized and then sold to third parties. An example: this week mentions of the company Foo,Inc. went up 35% in Mountain View,CA as opposed to up 5% average across the rest of the country. From this example it's reasonable that one of the companies in Mountain View is about to have a significant interaction with Foo, Inc., perhaps an acquisition, so this could be financially valuable information. And of course it would valuable to marketers.

dfsegoat 7y ago
Indeed. What if I casually discuss a medical condition with my driver? That is protected health information right? What if my kids who are under 18 are with me? How does that work? Just seems like a very slippery slope.
- 54thr 7y ago
  > What if my kids who are under 18 are with me? How does that work? Exactly the same? They'll gleefully monetize all personal data they accrue, which is standard practice for any data-gathering effort. It doesn't matter if the slope is slippery. The terms and conditions will promise they'll act in good faith (unless compelled otherwise). They'll share data with third parties to improve user experience. The intelligence agencies will be delighted. The obliteration of privacy has been normalized. Most people have been trained not to care.
ThrustVectoring 7y ago
Doesn't need to be that sophisticated - Uber already knows who their riders are. Simply cross-reference that list with the publicly listed executives in public companies, and have someone read all the transcripts of their car rides. You'll likely identify at least one Merger and Acquisition deal that you'll be able to front-run for a few million dollars, and this is 100% legal because A) you've notified people that they're being audio recorded so it counts as two-party consent, and B) Uber has no obligation to not trade on insider information that they happen to overhear.

dfsegoat 7y ago

Indeed. What if I casually discuss a medical condition with my driver? That is protected health information right? What if my kids who are under 18 are with me? How does that work? Just seems like a very slippery slope.

54thr 7y ago
> What if my kids who are under 18 are with me? How does that work? Exactly the same? They'll gleefully monetize all personal data they accrue, which is standard practice for any data-gathering effort. It doesn't matter if the slope is slippery. The terms and conditions will promise they'll act in good faith (unless compelled otherwise). They'll share data with third parties to improve user experience. The intelligence agencies will be delighted. The obliteration of privacy has been normalized. Most people have been trained not to care.

ThrustVectoring 7y ago

Doesn't need to be that sophisticated - Uber already knows who their riders are. Simply cross-reference that list with the publicly listed executives in public companies, and have someone read all the transcripts of their car rides. You'll likely identify at least one Merger and Acquisition deal that you'll be able to front-run for a few million dollars, and this is 100% legal because A) you've notified people that they're being audio recorded so it counts as two-party consent, and B) Uber has no obligation to not trade on insider information that they happen to overhear.