# does uber monitior your texts/calls?



## ubearx (Jun 29, 2014)

I'm talking about that phone number you use to contact passengers


----------



## zakk the bear (Jul 8, 2014)

Yes.


----------



## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Whether they do or not, they could since everything routes thru their system.


----------



## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> Whether they do or not, they could since everything routes thru their system.


This I don't get. I call / SMS the clients through my own phone.

Does your UBER iPhone allow you to make calls and send Sms's?


----------



## Just Some Guy (Jun 10, 2014)

Could they? Yes of course. Do they? That is the real question... Check the fine print in your agreement. If it isn't mentioned, then it would be a violation of Federal wiretapping laws. In MA, all parties involved in a conversation (which includes text messages being sent electronically or email) must be aware of any recording, or monitoring by a party not involved with the conversation. Federal law, and most states, only requires one party to be aware. Of note is that you don't need permission, just knowledge that it is being monitored/intercepted/recorded.

A possible loophole may be the expectation of privacy... this has been used by companies monitoring employees when using company computers and phones. You'll need to check your local laws on that one. 

But given Uber's propensity for ignoring laws and regulations, it's best to assume that they are listening... Fnord.


----------



## Just Some Guy (Jun 10, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> This I don't get. I call / SMS the clients through my own phone.


But unless things are different in Australia, those calls/SMS are going through Uber's routing system.


----------



## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

FYI, Uber's home state, California, is a two party consent state. Of course, ask Donald Sterling what good that did him. I would think that Uber would have to explicitly disclose that phone conversations through their number are monitored, or provide that annoying beep to warn callers.


----------



## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

Now I'm really confused.

Someone advise me whether UBER facilitates driver to client calls/Sms's via the iPhone they provide to its "partners".

On my dispatch info I'm given a client contact no which I have to manually input into my mobile phone then rung through mobile account - how can they monitor that?


----------



## Just Some Guy (Jun 10, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> View attachment 416
> 
> 
> Now I'm really confused.
> ...


I can't speak for other areas, but in Boston, each driver gets assigned a number. That number is to a call routing service that any rider can use to call your personal phone, or you can use to call whomever your current/last rider is/was. So even though you must use your personal phone, the calls are all routed through Uber (or more likely a company they contract). So it is certainly possible that they _could_ monitor all conversations/text through that routing service.

Lyft does the same here as well.

On a couple of occasions they've had issues with their routing system (or didn't pay their bill), and actual phone numbers have shown up for a day or two.


----------



## LUXYRIDE (Jul 5, 2014)

I believe Uber uses Google Voice to mask both the rider and driver's real phone numbers so nobody ends up with a stalker on their personal cell phone. If someone from Uber office calls you and you try calling them back. you get a recording, "Sorry, the Google Voice Subscriber is not available. No messages can be left on this phone." Once you drop of a rider and get a new assignment, you can no longer contact them directly via your Uber iPhone.


----------



## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Just Some Guy said:


> I can't speak for other areas, but in Boston, each driver gets assigned a number. That number is to a call routing service that any rider can use to call your personal phone, or you can use to call whomever your current/last rider is/was. So even though you must use your personal phone, the calls are all routed through Uber (or more likely a company they contract). So it is certainly possible that they _could_ monitor all conversations/text through that routing service.
> 
> Lyft does the same here as well.
> 
> On a couple of occasions they've had issues with their routing system (or didn't pay their bill), and actual phone numbers have shown up for a day or two.


I believe it is the same for all, at least in the US. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar all do it this way here in Seattle. I did see a glitch with one or the other one day where I would see their personal number and probably they were seeing mine.


----------



## ubearx (Jun 29, 2014)

Here is the story. My employer offered to cover 20% of my cell phone bill with Sprint. And how it worked, I just had to name my employer to Sprint and they would bill the employer directly. My coworker took advantage of that deal and it worked fine. I didn't go for that because some time earlier Clark Howard said on his show that if employer pays even a small portion of your bill then they are entitled to all the phone use data and no privacy for you at all.
Back to uber texts. You can really text something stupid that can be misinterpreted later.. and I'm sure that numberis not free for uber so they have a right to the data


----------



## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

How can they route a call going between my phone and the private number of a client?


----------



## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> How can they route a call going between my phone and the private number of a client?


Not sure how it is in Sydney, but here in the US we don't ever see the private # of the client and they don't ever see our private #. The only way a client would get your personal number or you theirs is if you exchanged them personally or gave them a business card etc.

The number we see once we have accepted a request is always the same. When we call or text the number it rings or texts the clients phone showing a different number. Everything transfers thru the Uber, Lyft or Sidecar system. This protects the rider and driver from ever seeing each others phone numbers.

How is it in Sydney? You actually see their personal # and they see your personal #?


----------



## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> Not sure how it is in Sydney, but here in the US we don't ever see the private # of the client and they don't ever see our private #. The only way a client would get your personal number or you theirs is if you exchanged them personally or gave them a business card etc.
> 
> The number we see once we have accepted a request is always the same. When we call or text the number it rings or texts the clients phone showing a different number. Everything transfers thru the Uber, Lyft or Sidecar system. This protects the rider and driver from ever seeing each others phone numbers.
> 
> How is it in Sydney? You actually see their personal # and they see your personal #?


Yes in the Black fleet we are given their mobile number to call and they are given ours


----------



## Just Some Guy (Jun 10, 2014)

LUXYRIDE said:


> I believe Uber uses Google Voice to mask both the rider and driver's real phone numbers so nobody ends up with a stalker on their personal cell phone. If someone from Uber office calls you and you try calling them back. you get a recording, "Sorry, the Google Voice Subscriber is not available. No messages can be left on this phone." Once you drop of a rider and get a new assignment, you can no longer contact them directly via your Uber iPhone.


I'm pretty sure they don't use Google Voice, at least not the standard publicly available version of it anyway. I use a Google Voice number for my photography business, and it just doesn't work like the system Uber uses (it can be set up to record all conversations though). They could be using XO Communications, Century Link, Ring Central, etc, or it could be a proprietary system. Whatever system they use, it's safe to assume that it _could_ be monitored/recorded.


----------



## London UberExec Driver (Jul 8, 2014)

When I first started for a couple of days (and when I used Uber myself as a rider), you could see the passenger's (or driver's if I'm a rider), personal mobile phone number.

Now it's just a normal landline phone number which is always the same, and the calls/texts are rerouted through that.


----------



## Nautilis (Apr 16, 2014)

I've heard that they use a company called Twilio. I briefly checked out their website and there is definitely a cost to the service (which could help explain some of the $10/week fee):
http://www.twilio.com/help/faq/voice/how-much-am-i-charged-for-call-forwarding

If they are using Twilio, the service does have the ability to record our communications:
http://www.twilio.com/elements/call-recording

UPDATE: *Uber definitely uses Twilio.* Travis is on one of their customer promo videos: http://www.twilio.com/customers (LOL, at the 1:20 mark in the video they show an Uber employee wearing headphones sitting in front of a computer... perhaps he's listening in to a driver's phone call??)


----------



## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

Nautilis said:


> I've heard that they use a company called Twilio. I briefly checked out their website and there is definitely a cost to the service (which could help explain some of the $10/week fee):
> http://www.twilio.com/help/faq/voice/how-much-am-i-charged-for-call-forwarding
> 
> If they are using Twilio, the service does have the ability to record our communications:
> ...


Well we know the employee can't be fielding a call from a customer or a driver, since Uber doesn't give out any of those phone numbers! So, it appears that it might be video evidence of a wiretapping violation?!!?!?!? (only half joking...)


----------



## ubervictim (Feb 2, 2015)

I know for a fact that uber has access to calls and texts that are routed through their system. The user agreement says nothing about this. How is this even remotely legal? They are keeping a record of everything. Any lawyers here?


----------



## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

ubervictim said:


> I know for a fact that uber has access to calls and texts that are routed through their system. The user agreement says nothing about this. How is this even remotely legal? They are keeping a record of everything. Any lawyers here?


You mean Uber is doing something that is illegal? WOW!

In other news ISIS is killing people in the Middle East.


----------



## ubervictim (Feb 2, 2015)

Ya well this i can actually do something about


----------



## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

ubearx said:


> I'm talking about that phone number you use to contact passengers


 I don't know if they are but when you download app you give them permission for a lot of things.

http://www.gizmag.com/uber-app-malware-android/34962/


----------



## ubervictim (Feb 2, 2015)

If you read that article it says uber explicitly doesnt have permission to record your texts and calls.


----------



## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

ubervictim said:


> If you read that article it says uber explicitly doesnt have permission to record your texts and calls.


When has Uber asked permission for anything?


----------



## AintWorthIt (Sep 30, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> I believe it is the same for all, at least in the US. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar all do it this way here in Seattle. I did see a glitch with one or the other one day where I would see their personal number and probably they were seeing mine.


Had the exact same thing happen to me this past weekend.


----------



## EllyUberNJ (Jan 6, 2015)

Yes, they do monitor them. I was deactivated because of things I was texting.

See the following threads for more details

https://uberpeople.net/threads/2-2-i-just-got-deactivated-update-2-8-reactivated.13079/

https://uberpeople.net/threads/we-forced-a-3-5x-surge-in-hoboken-for-most-of-the-morning.13040/


----------

