Uber will submit to 20 years of third-party audits of its privacy practices following a 2014 scandal over its “God View” spy software.
The Tuesday truce settles a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission that the ride-hailing company — already slammed by warring investor factions and accusations that management fostered a toxic work culture — failed to protect sensitive data of customers and employees.
Uber’s “God View” software, which some employees reportedly had used to track the real-time locations of passengers including politicians, celebrities like Beyonce, and even ex-girlfriends, was a key FTC concern.
News of the program caused such an uproar on being exposed in 2014 that Uber promised to implement an “automated system” to keep employees from spying on customers.
In its complaint, however, the FTC alleged Uber abandoned the system within a year and thereafter “rarely monitored” the use of God View by employees.
The FTC likewise charged that Uber failed to securely store customers’ information, citing a 2014 data breach that exposed the names and license numbers of more than 100,000 drivers.
The FTC alleged the San Francisco-based company could have prevented the breach by taking “reasonable, low-cost measures.”
The audits are to begin within 180 days and take place every two years for two decades.
An Uber spokesman responded that, after hiring a chief security officer in 2015, it now has hundreds of professionals dedicated to protecting user data.
“This settlement provides an opportunity to work with the FTC to further verify that our programs protect user privacy and personal information,” he said.