November 20, 2014

Al Franken Questions Uber Over Privacy

Glen Stubbe/ZUMA

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Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has taken a keen interest in tech policy since coming to Congress. As chairman of a Senate subcommittee that focuses on privacy, technology, and the law, Franken has been one of the more vocal advocates for net neutrality, fought against a proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner, and wondered about the privacy implications of fingerprint scanners on iPhones.

Now Franken has set his sights on Uber, an on-demand car service that uses smartphone technology to match passengers who need rides with available drivers. On Wednesday, Franken wrote a letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick posing a series of questions about how the company handles its users’ information and how it plans to treat journalists.

Franken cited a recent Buzzfeed report that a high-level Uber executive had mooted hiring opposition researchers to investigate the personal lives of journalists who have written negatively about Uber. And he sounded particular alarm about the lack of transparency in Uber’s privacy policy, given that the company has been accused of tracking the data and routes of specific riders. “This raises serious concerns for me about the scope, transparency, and enforceability of Uber’s policies,” Franken wrote.

The senator posed ten questions to Uber’s CEO, asking how the company plans to treat journalists and how it uses and stores geolocation data. He also requested more information about the company’s so-called “God view,” which allows employees to track the whereabouts of any user who has ordered a car. Franken asked the company to respond by December 15.

Read Franken’s letter here:

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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