It wasn’t until recently that Uber was placed under scrutiny when it a best sms tracker feature in its app was discovered by security analysts. The feature allowed the app to continue locating the riders for up to five minutes after their trip has ended. Uber has finally decided to pull out this particular feature from its app. The change made restores the ability of the user to share his or her location data only when he or she is using the app. The change is expected to be announced by Tuesday. This is one of the steps taken by the company to help restore its damaged reputation which even led to the ouster of its former CEO Travis Kalanick and other company executives.
According to Uber’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, the recent change of company executives including the announcement of a new CEO in the person of Dara Khosrowshahi, a CEO of a well-known travel booking company, had nothing to do with the recent update in their location tracking feature. Sullivan that his team has constantly been working to update the security features of the app tracker ever since 2015 and has just recently developed the better update to be released soon.
The criticized feature was an update introduced by Uber last November which they believed would help to ensure the safety of their users. There is also an option to disable the tracking system which required the user to manually enter the pick-up and drop-off points in to the app. Uber however stated then that permission was always required before the app was allowed to gather data and track their riders.
The update, despite its alleged good intentions, was met with heavy criticism not only from its users but from the general public as well. It was considered as a breach of trust by many of its patrons. This became the final blow to the company’s reputation which was already besmirched due to the controversial way their app was collecting certain data from its users.
The update came two weeks after a settlement conducted by Uber for a US Federal Trade Commission complaint instituted against them. The complaint was filed by some of its users who alleged that Uber failed to protect the privacy of the personal information of their drivers and riders. It was also alleged in the complaint that Uber had deceived its users regarding the specifics of its privacy policies.
To ensure compliance with the Commission’s requirements, the company has agreed to conduct an audit every two years for the next twenty years from the day the settlement was agreed upon. The update will initially be available for iPhone users first but Uber has stated that Android users would follow shortly after some changes to the feature have been completed. The recent update is only the first step to a series of updates that the company is set to release in the upcoming year to ensure better service and improve their security and privacy settings.