Franken pressures Lyft over privacy

Ride-sharing application Lyft is getting pressure from Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) over its treatment of users’ privacy, amid increased concern about companies’ ability to monitor people’s location.  

The senator sent a letter to Lyft CEO Logan Green on Tuesday asking for details about its privacy policies, after reports that employees have been able to routinely get customers’ data without their knowledge or consent.

{mosads}Lyft quietly updated its policy a week and a half ago to create “tiered access” limiting which staffers can access people’s data, but Franken said he was not satisfied by those changes.

“I am concerned that it remains unclear which categories of employees continue to have access to ride location data and the circumstances in which their use of that data is considered proper,” he wrote in the letter to Green.

Previous reports, he added, suggest “inadequate regard among Lyft executives for customers’ privacy.”

Concerns have risen in recent weeks about the ability of companies such as Lyft and, to a larger extent, Uber to monitor riders’ location.

According to multiple reports, Uber executives have created a “God View” feature that allows them to watch and track the location of any customer who has ordered a ride.

The firestorm prompted a change in policy for the rapidly expanding ride company. Uber also brought in privacy experts from the Hogan Lovells law firm to review and improve its privacy tools.

Franken indicated that Lyft ought to take another look at its rules as well.

“It is critically important that sound privacy policies are not only established but are also adequately communicated to employees and affiliates, as well as customers, and are appropriately enforced,” he said in his letter.  

In a statement responding to the letter, Lyft said it shared Franken’s concern. 

“People nationwide have embraced Lyft because of the improved accountability and transparency built into the platform, and we have continued to upgrade our existing privacy safeguards,” the company said. “The respect and rights of our users are at our core as a company, and we look forward to discussing this important issue and Lyft’s commitment to consumer privacy in depth.”

Despite the criticism, the companies’ ability to track users falls squarely within the bounds of the law, so long as they are not deceptive in their policies.

Franken has been an ardent advocate of privacy protections and has repeatedly introduced a location privacy bill that would add new safeguards for consumers. His office has said he plans on introducing the bill again next year. 

—Updated at 9:12 p.m.