Mangan, D.

City Research Online

Black Cab versus RideshareRegulating for Globalization22/06/2018David Mangan (City, University of London)Please refer to this post as: David Mangan, ‘Black Cab versus Rideshare’,Regulating for Globalization, 22/06/2018,http://regulatingforglobalization.com/2018/06/22/black-cab-versus-rideshare/The evolution in understanding privacy and personal dataVisitors to major cities will become familiar with colour coding of thevarious means of transportation: for example, yellow cabs in New York; blackcabs in London. Supplanting these colourful vehicles are alternatives to theregulated taxi industry, such as Uber or Lyft. The present contributionfocuses on the developing understanding of privacy, including personal data.There has been a casualness with which notions of privacy have beendismissed. While the workplace has been a contentious locale for thisconsideration, considering the topic in a broader sense is necessary.In choosing a rideshare or taxi cab, factors include the difference inconvenience and cost. A further element to think about is data protection. Indownloading and signing up to a rideshare application, the ‘consumer’ permitsthe entity operating the application to access personal data about her. Whatdoes this mean?Consider someone using a device to track your travels each day; noting eachplace you visit. In workplace monitoring litigation, the dividing line hasbeen whether or not the individual knows beforehand about the surveillance.When a Spanish supermarket looking to cut down on employee theft used hiddencameras, the European Court of Human Rights found this to be a violation ofworkers’ privacy; calling covert video surveillance of employees a‘considerable intrusion’.Data collection may be deemed acceptable becausethere was consent (by downloading the application and accepting terms) standsout as problematic. But, to what was consent being given? The primary aim ofconsent would be to use the service; with acceptance of the terms beingnecessary to effect this end. However, in addition to patronage of andpayment for the service, there is an additional ‘cost’ of disclosing personalinformation.As a society, we have not had occasion until recently to consider in a moreconcerted manner personal data and its value. The four-letter acronym, GDPR,has given recent reason to reflect on privacy and personal data.  It is worthrecalling that privacy has been debated for some time. In December 1890Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published ‘The Right to Privacy’ in theHarvard Law Review. As well, the European Union has (for some time) held anexpansive definition of personal data as ‘any information relating to anidentified or identifiable individual’.And yet, recognising data collection as a daily activity remains an evolvingconsideration. Thinking about the collection of personal data, and thereforemore detailed considerations of privacy, has been forced upon us as a resultof innovations. Data had been collected long before computer technologies.Returning to the taxi example, a taxi driver could collect information on thepassengers in her cab. What has evolved more recently is the value inprocessing this information: 1) mass data can be collected about asignificant number of people; 2) it can be easily disseminated; and 3) thisinformation can be analysed to meet a variety of information retrieval goals.Profit-seeking undertakings can emerge from these new capabilities. We havebecome aware of the profound importance of data and its uses, within aslowly-developing idea of privacy.What we have is the overlap of commerce and individual rights. In theworkplace, while there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, this is a‘significant though not necessarily a conclusive matter.’With applications onour phones (such as rideshare apps), there should be a question as to whatinformation is being collected and how is it being processed. The issue toreflect upon is whether some form of continuous surveillance should bepermissible.While not all surveillance may necessitate legal action, each individualshould reflect upon the extent to which they are monitored and factor thisinto consumer or other decisions. 

Black Cab versus Rideshare

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Black Cab versus Rideshare

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