“Exclusive: The
ride-sharing company is conducting a trial in Texas using movement sensors in
smartphones to track signs of erratic driving” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/26/Uber-monitoring-drivers-us-passenger-safety-houston
When I read the title of the article I wanted to laugh… It
would be really dumb of Uber if this hasn’t been already happening for a while.
Imagine, as an Uber driver, you carry the Uber app in your
phone; do you control what the app accesses? Your smart phone has in-built GPS
(that’s what allows you to use the maps and other applications that give you
directions, recommend stuff ‘near you’), gyroscope (that’s how you can play
games that require you to move the phone itself rather than just use controls).
Using these 2 pieces of equipment that most smart phones
have in-built, it is very easy to know where you are, the speed and direction
you are moving, and any sudden changes in direction. All you have to do is
overlay a map that has data on the speed limits, and you will easily be able to
tell whether speed limits are being exceeded, whether sudden lanes are changing
are taking place…
So if this is an exclusive story, then I am really
surprised. Uber can’t be that backward, afterall, remember the “rides of glory”
where Uber classified the rides their customers took? (For example if you are
picked up in an area with healthy nightlife in the wee hours of the morning and
get dropped off at a new location, then depart from that location after a few
hours later, it could be a one night stand…)
You cannot be doing this and not analysing what your drivers
are up to, especially after the horror stories such as http://indianexpress.com/topic/delhi-Uber-rape-case/
. In fact, wouldn’t it be easy to simply track every Uber car, since you know
the origin and destination of every trip a passenger takes, decide the most
likely routes, and issue alerts when driver deviate from these routes, may be
require driver and passenger to respond?
What is more even interesting is what is going to
happen/happen to this data that Uber collects.
Data is a resource, and a very useful one too, in the right
hands.
MSIG recently announced it would be the first insurance
company in Singapore to use telematics (http://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article?id=34686&Type=eDaily)
. To be able to decide whether a driver is low or high risk, the insurer will
have to collect the data on how that person drives. But for Uber drivers, Uber
already has all this data.
Take a step further, think of passengers.
When you fill up your application for insurance, you have to
declare your habits, including the amount of alcohol you consume, and whether
you enjoy sky-diving for example. It is up to you to inform the insurer if the
response to any of the questions you answered in the past has changed. Else you
could lose coverage at the most inopportune times (http://www.mcmha.org/never-lie-life-insurance-application/).
What if your insurer knows you are often at a well-known nightspot until the
wee hours? Did you declare alcohol consumption? This can impact your premium or
seriously cut any pay-out from the insurance company. The insurance company
would mostly likely gladly pay for information that would save them from large
pay-outs.
What if your bank knew you often went to the vicinity of the
casinos and add it to the fact that the bank knows that you do not spend on
shopping there? How would that affect your credit rating and your ability to
get loans at decent rates? The bank would also be most likely to be happy to buy
data that ensures their risk is well covered (high-risk customers are charged
‘appropriately’ higher premiums).
What if the data on trips taken by Uber is sold in bulk?
Nowadays with the proliferation of data, it takes less than 5 matches to be at least
90% sure of one’s identity and thus know who you are, where you were, and when.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep01376.
Basically, all I’d need is 4 social media posts where you confirm your presence
at certain locations at specific times that I can match with the Uber data
(starting point or end point and time), and I can identify that all the Uber
trips are made by you with 90% accuracy at least.
Basically what I am trying to say is that there is a lot
that can be done with data that Uber (or any other car ride company – I am just
talking about Uber because the article that caused me to write this was talking
about an ‘innovation’ by Uber), whether on its own to enhance Uber services (is
the driver a safe driver? Is there a risk that the driver is up to no good?),
or be used by third parties (is this driver safe and deserve a low premium or
unsafe and merit a higher one to cover my insurance risks?) or merged with
other data to reveal even more (is this customer a low risk customer or does
he/she have less than prudent financial habits? Where does Mr XXX or Ms YYY go,
where was he/she last Friday night, where does he/she visit often?)…
And this brings me back to my main concern; do we have any
control over what happens to data we generate? Laws are required to force
organisations that collect data that we generate to inform us of and get our permission
for data collection and usage, and well as retention period and delete data
upon request.
