News & Views
Article: “Do You Feel Safer When You Know You’re Being Watched?”
Author: Nicole Daniels
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/learning/do-you-feel-safer-when-you-know-youre-being-watched.html
“Ride-hailing companies have started to make video and audio recordings of passengers.” The question remains, how do passengers feel about this? This is raising some privacy concerns from passengers.  Uber has been recording some rides as part of a broad initiative to capture more objective data about what happens inside vehicles. The reason Uber is videotaping vehicles is because over the years they have experienced a series of complaints about the safety of its riders and drivers, who are often left to sort out episodes without the help of the company, and it has settled lawsuits claiming that it does not do enough to protect passengers. But with the company now doing what it takes to ensure safety, it is facing new privacy pressures. Uber’s video recording feature is a partnership with Nauto, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence to analyze video from vehicles. The aims of the company is to detect potential collisions and warn drivers, and uses facial recognition to detect distracted drivers and remind them to keep their eyes on the road. Passengers’ faces are blurred in the footage provided to drivers, but visible to Uber employees who review it during safety incidents. Each state has its own privacy laws related to video and audio recording.