Uber drivers are suing the company over the alleged use of their personal data to manipulate their behaviour and offer them the lowest fares it is predicted they will accept.
The lead plaintiff of the proposed class-action lawsuit, Edwin Carranza of Los Angeles, said he was required to provide real-time access to detailed personal data, including precise location, acceptance and rejection patterns, driving locations and other information, in order to sign up with the platform.
But he claimed Uber withheld that it would use the data to build a profile of him and use it to try to minimise how much he was paid.
Carranza claimed in the complaint in San Francisco on 8 July that his reasonable expectation of privacy was infringed and that Uber’s systems have “damaged the livelihoods of thousands of drivers”.
He alleged that when drivers turn down low-value ride offers, the system reduces the value of the fares they are offered.
