Standing Up for Rider Privacy in Los Angeles

Ruby Zefo, Chief Privacy Officer, Uber

Today, Uber filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to contest their unlawful implementation of the Mobility Data Specification (MDS), which allows the City to access and collect the location coordinates of JUMP riders in real time, putting their personal privacy at risk.

This is not a decision we take lightly, and not a step we wanted to take, but after eighteen months of searching for a compromise, LADOT refuses to address the fundamental privacy concerns raised by us and independent experts. In view of these circumstances, clarity from the courts is both a necessary next step and an obligation we have to our customers for the data they entrust to us. Our full complaint can be found here.

JUMP already shares, and will continue to share, data about our business to support the safe and equitable operations of cities’ dockless mobility programs and allow cities to verify that permit requirements are met. However, we remain concerned about LADOT’s demand for data about individual riders, including where they begin their trip, where and when they arrive, which route they take, and any stop they make along the way.This highly personal information, shared in real-time with government agencies, signifies a decisive step towards the continuous, unregulated surveillance of our users. In contrast, many other cities, including some in California, are successfully operating their dockless mobility programs without these demands. We commend cities who are doing right by consumers, demonstrating that innovation and privacy are compatible.

On numerous occasions, consumer privacy advocates from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy and Technology, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have publicly spoken out against LADOT’s practices, citing additional Constitutional and privacy concerns. It is our belief that consumers’ privacy and data protection rights enable other protections, like one’s freedom of movement and freedom from government surveillance.

Last year, California’s Legislative Counsel Bureau published an opinion on whether the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA) restricts a department of a city or county from requiring this type of real-time location data from dockless mobility providers as a condition of granting a permit to operate. The opinion stated:

… [T]he CalECPA restricts a department of a city or county from requiring a business that rents dockless bikes, scooters, or other shared mobility devices to the public to provide the department with real-time location data from its dockless shared mobility devices as a condition of granting a permit to operate in the department’s jurisdiction. [Emphasis added.]

The Legislative Counsel Bureau then reiterated this position in February at an informational hearing convened by the California Senate Judiciary and Transportation Committees.

The bottom line is that effectively managing new and emerging mobility options does not need to come at the expense of personal privacy.

We are deeply supportive of building a data sharing standard that can serve all cities without jeopardizing consumer privacy. That way, consumers can be confident that their movements are protected when using our platform, regardless of where they travel or where they live. Filing this lawsuit is an unfortunate, but necessary, step towards understanding how we can build standards and policies together that facilitate the exchange of mobility data while respecting the guardrails of consumer privacy and Constitutional rights.

We will continue to support cities in their responsible collection of data to manage their dockless mobility programs and we will continue to vigorously fight for the personal privacy rights of our riders.

Update on June 15, 2020:

We have withdrawn our lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Transportation since we are no longer operating micromobility products in Los Angeles. However, our position on the issue at stake as well as our commitment to defend consumer privacy, have not changed. We believe that the mass collection of precise geolocation data by government agencies deeply compromises consumer privacy, and we applaud the growing number of organizations who are speaking out on this vital issue and defending the privacy rights of riders in L.A.