Privacy group EPIC asks FTC to prevent Uber from updating its privacy policy to allow background location data collection
except for one thing Elizabeth Weise / USA Today : Privacy group asks FTC to investigate Uber Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica : FTC asked to block Uber from getting location data in background Roger Fingas / AppleInsider : Privacy group asks FTC to limit location, contact sharing in Uber's mobile apps Rupert Neate / Guardian : Uber faces FTC complaint over plan to track customers' locations and contacts Matt Kapko / CIO.com : How Apple's privacy stance could give Google an AI edge Johana Bhuiyan / BuzzFeed : “God View”: Uber Investigates Its Top New York Executive For Privacy Violations Collen Kriel / SiliconANGLE : Uber to become Big Brother unless FTC puts a halt to new privacy policy Brendan Sasso / Nextgov : Feds Urged to Investigate Uber's Plan to Track Users Nathan McAlone / Business Insider : Uber will soon be able to track your location even if you exit the app and have GPS turned off ECPM BLOG : Uber Data Collection Changes Should Be Barred, Privacy Group Urges Mic Wright / The Next Web : Uber faces legal challenge over plan to track you even when its app isn't running Tweets: The Next Web / @thenextweb : Uber faces legal challenge over plan to track you even when its app isn't running http://thenextweb.com/... http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This complaint lands weeks after Uber revised its privacy policy to ask riders' consent for tracking location while the app runs in the background and for accessing contacts — the exact expansion EPIC wants the FTC to block before it takes effect. The filing also lands amid separate scrutiny of Uber's internal data handling, including the investigation of a top New York executive over the 'God View' tool.
It matters because Uber is asking riders for standing access to their movements rather than a one-time trip purpose, and EPIC is testing whether the FTC will treat a policy change as a reviewable practice rather than fine print.
First-order effects
- The FTC must decide whether to open a docket or take action against Uber's proposed background-location and contacts collection before it goes live.
Second-order effects
- If the FTC engages, EPIC's petition becomes a template other privacy groups can deploy against any ride-hailing or delivery app seeking always-on location permissions, raising the compliance bar across the category.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward regulators treating cumulative privacy practices — this policy fight, plus Uber's later post-ride tracking that drew EFF's rollback demand and the FTC contact over its disclosed hack — as grounds for escalating enforcement rather than isolated incidents.
The trend: Consumer-privacy groups are turning FTC petitions into a first-line tool for policing how mobile apps collect continuous location data.