After Uber update starts tracking user locations 5 minutes after rides, EFF asks for rollback
After Uber introduced a controversial app update that tracks users' locations even when they're not using the app, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading privacy group, has asked the company roll it back.
Context & Ripple Effects
This fight has been building since mid-2015, when Uber revised its privacy policy to seek user permission for background location tracking and contact access. Privacy group EPIC responded by asking the FTC to block the policy change, framing always-on location collection as an unfair practice before it shipped at scale.
First-order effects
- Uber riders whose apps have been updated now broadcast their location for five minutes after each trip ends, whether or not they are using the app.
- The EFF's rollback demand puts Uber's consent flow under fresh public scrutiny, converting a settings change into a named privacy controversy.
Second-order effects
- EPIC's earlier FTC petition gives regulators a ready-made case file, so the EFF's request raises the odds of formal inquiry rather than leaving this to app-store reviews.
- Rival ride-hailing apps can differentiate on narrower location permissions, forcing Uber to defend the feature on safety or pickup-accuracy grounds rather than defaulting it on.
Third-order effects
- Uber was simultaneously expanding monitoring on the supply side, adding driver behavior tracking for speeding and abrupt braking; if both patterns hold, the platform's data collection grows past the ride itself on both sides of the marketplace.
- The pressure eventually produced a partial retreat — Uber later said it would stop tracking iPhone riders for up to five minutes post-trip removing the post-ride tracking feature — suggesting consumer backlash plus regulator attention can force ride-hailing apps to narrow location collection even after shipping it.
The trend: Ride-hailing platforms are steadily expanding location data collection beyond the active trip, with privacy groups and regulators acting as the counterweight that determines how far the default extends.