Lawsuit Claims Uber/Google Illegally Collecting & Selling User Data

Via America’s Lawyer: Microsoft faces a class-action lawsuit for selling biometric data collected from unknowing Uber drivers. Meanwhile, Google is caught unlawfully sharing personal data obtained from millions of users, including children. Attorney Madeline Pendley joins Mike Papantonio to explain how personal data is the most sought-after commodity in today's mass surveillance marketplace.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

A class action lawsuit alleges that Microsoft has been quietly profiting off biometric data collected from Uber drivers without their consent. Meanwhile, Google is facing a privacy lawsuit of its own, and it's a big, big lawsuit. The tech giant was found to be unlawfully selling the personal information of millions of people, including children. Wow. I've got Maddie, Madeline to join me here on the, look, first of all, we've, we've seen this story before in so many iterations over the last, it really started about 10 years ago.

Right.

Where there'd be a new story almost every month where our personal data is being used by the government, it's being used by advertisers, by corporations. It, this is pretty Orwellian, isn't it?

Right, it's completely overwhelming. And just like you said, it's all these companies all the time, just doing it to make money. So what we've seen is personal data, you know, our private information has quickly become the most valuable commodity in the world. So there's really no incentive for them to stop doing it. And what you mentioned about Uber and Microsoft, basically Uber hired Microsoft to create a security feature in their app that would be facial recognition, basically. So it was designed to kind of keep the drivers safe and sure it was actually that person driving the car, two issues with that. Uber never actually got permission from the drivers to collect that information from them. And then Microsoft had really no protections in place to ensure that information didn't end up in the wrong hands. And then they went so far as to sell it. So.

Okay. So, so the Uber driver, so the lawsuit is saying, what you've exposed me to, the driver says you've exposed me to identity theft.

Right.

I mean, it's very obvious how identity theft could be a big part of that.

Right.

You've exposed me to fraud.

Yes.

Haven't you?

Yes.

Explain, talk, talk about that just a little bit.

So this to me is a little bit more frightening than your run of the mill data breach. You know, when you think about somebody getting your, you know, your debit card, you cancel it and you get a new one. Someone's using your credit, you can freeze your credit. Someone gets in your email, you change the password. This has to do with the biometric profile of the driver's faces. It's their identity. It's who they are. It's what they look like. So for most people, at least, your face is an unalterable piece of information that's now just out there forever. And it puts them at risk for identity theft.

Okay, Maddie, once they get that profile, are they able to move into all the other parts that that driver might have? His phone, his computer, is that how expansive this is?

It's unclear, but really, I mean, that is what the facial biometric profile is used for. So the drivers have to use it to unlock their app from time to time, people use biometric profiles to unlock their iPhones, to unlock banking information. It's the same type or caliber of information as like a fingerprint, if someone were to have that information on you.

Okay. So for example, with a, with a banking and they'll have machines that it's biometric here's, here's my picture.

Right.

I mean, it can literally be a picture.

Right.

That they have used and then the accounts, the accounts emptied.

Yes.

Okay. So, so I'm, I'm, I'm curious, what, what is Uber's response to this? I mean, they know, they know that it's, it's, it's far beyond something just minor. They know it's not for identification of the driver.

Right.

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