Committee wants to Bar Uber for Playing God

The Committee for Taxi Safety s calling on the TLC to suspend Uber's TLC licenses because the New York City Uber chiefs have been using the company’s “God’s View” technology to track the movements of one a Buzzfeed reporter.

Uber’s God’s View tool allows Uber to track an individual's use of the service, marking when and where they traveled by an Uber-dispatched car. Reportedly Ubers NYC general manager Josh Mohrer told Buzzfeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan he had been tracking her Uber vehicle as she made her way to his office for an interview. Mohrer also emailed Bhuiyan logs of her Uber rides to answer questions she brought up in the interview. Mohrer did not ask for Bhuiyan’s permission before doing so. This is according to a report in the Guardian.

Now, the Committee for Taxi Safety, a group which represents taxi medallion leasing agents, is calling on the TLC to investigate Uber. In a letter by Tweeps Phillips, its executive director, the committee asked that Uber's license "be suspended until the riding public can be assured that their privacy and data are safe.”

Of course, the TLC has used its own GPS tracking power to track and gather evidence against cabbies for use in civil and criminal prosecutions.