Source: DANIEL SORABJI / Getty
Ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft have both suspended a driver after learning he that live streamed videos of hundreds of his passengers without their consent.
The driver–identified by The St. Louis Post Dispatch as 32-year-old Jason Gargac–filmed his interactions with passengers using a small camera mounted on his windshield, and streamed the footage live on Twitch. Some of the conversations Gargac recorded revealed passengers’ full names, where they lived, and more according to reports.
Uber announced that it ended its “partnership” with Gargac, while Lyft said it had “deactivated” his account.
Unfortunately beyond that, the driver faces no legal repercussions for his behavior because Missouri has “one party consent” privacy laws–this means that only one participant in a conversation needs to agree to its being recorded. Crazy, right?
“In regards to our policies, under our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, we do not allow people to share content that invades others’ privacy,” a Twitch spokesperson commented. “If reported to us by the person whose privacy was invaded, we would take action under our Community Guidelines to remove the content.”
A lot of people believe that this case highlights a major disconnect between existing privacy laws and modern technology; “When these laws were drafted and enacted, I don’t think any of these states could have envisioned what we have in this case, where you have livestreaming video,” said CNN legal analyst Page on Sunday.
According to Gargac, the camera was primarily a security measure, saying he knew “if something happens, immediately there can be a response, versus hopefully you’ll find my truck in a ditch three weeks later.” He said the streams were “secondary” but added “I try to capture the natural interactions between myself and the passengers — what a Lyft and Uber ride actually is.”
What would you do if you found out your Uber driver was live streaming your ride?!
An Uber Driver Got Suspended After Secretly Live Streaming Hundreds Of Passengers was originally published on globalgrind.com
