The e-hail giant claims that a new amendment to a Taxi and Limousine Commission safety rule aimed at curbing driver hours is essentially a backdoor attempt to collect e-hail trip data.
Uber has made various objections to the rule since the city first proposed it last spring, but the San Francisco-based company is currently framing its argument around customer privacy and cybersecurity. It questions the TLC’s ability to protect the sensitive data it’s trying to collect — specifically exact drop-off locations of passengers.
“With what happens in New York, other cities often follow suit,” said Sarah Kaufman, assistant director for technology programming at the NYU Rudin Center. “Uber’s success is derived from its use of data, and this could jeopardize their competitive advantage.”