Uber's first Transparency Report, released on April 12, discloses the information of 14 million users was shared with the government, although the company showed resistance at first.
The report raises a lot of questions about what exactly it has detailed out in the report, and makes one wonder if the company is heading towards yet another tussle with the US regulators.
"We hope our Transparency Report will lead to a public debate about the types and amounts of information regulated services should be required to provide to their regulators, and under what circumstances," says the online cab service.
The information that was shared covers the July-December 2015, wherein the data of almost 12 million people went to regulatory agencies such as the California Public Utilities Commission and New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits.
Unlike technology companies like Google and Facebook that have long been submitting such reports to government bodies without any qualms, Uber expressed its concern about security issues.
"Of course regulators will always need some amount of data to be effective, just like law enforcement. But in many cases they send blanket requests without explaining why the information is needed, or how it will be used. And while this kind of trip data doesn't include personal information, it can reveal patterns of behavior - and is more than regulators need to do their jobs."
Moreover, the fact that it has to share its GPS coordinates tracking the pick-up and drop-off points, versus a regular taxi company that can get away by providing a paper log citing a rough starting point and final destination, further highlights Uber's growing resentment against the way the regulators operate to get their information.
In 2015, state law enforcement sent Uber almost 415 requests, which mostly pertained to criminal cases like fraud and credit card theft and required information on nearly 615 rider and driver accounts. Given that such requests come its way with regular frequency, Uber has been quick to point out that it has not received a National Security Letter or FISA order to date.
Uber is currently valued at $62.5 billion, plans to roll out such a transparency report every six months, which will reveal all requests received from regulatory and law enforcement agencies during that period, while touching base with information outside of the U.S. as well.
