# Storage of dashcam and cabin video files



## Meminiau

New Uber driver here

I have a dashcam and cabin camera which I use when I pickup Uber riders for safety and security. My wife thinks it might be a good idea to keep all these videos in case of a future claim, and my previous type of employment leads me to believe that it definitely wouldn't hurt, bbutstorage of all those files is an issue.

What do others do? Do you keep all your footage? 

Thanks in advance!


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## frank.grimes

I, too, am interested in peoples opinions on this, having recently bought a dashcam after a completely false allegation was made against me and was subsequently warned. All audio and video inside my car is now recorded. At current medium settings, 1 minute of video is 60MB (and that's only the front-facing camera!). At a guess, Id say front and cabin cameras combined will be 100mb/minute. 

40 Hour week=2400 minutes=240000MB=240GB/week
Could cut it down by keeping only cabin footage, but if pax complains about your driving, it'll be back to square one.

Cloud storage? anyone with any exp?


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## Jay1960

If there are no "incidents" of note, I see no point in keeping it, unless you plan on reminiscing over your rides when you finally retire from Uber


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## frank.grimes

Jay1960 said:


> If there are no "incidents" of note, I see no point in keeping it, unless you plan on reminiscing over your rides when you finally retire from Uber


Never underestimate what passengers will invent to try and score a free ride. All it takes is one creative POS to get you deactivated. There's plenty of value in keeping them for the maximum reasonable amount of time it would take for the rider to complain. A couple of weeks I'd wager.


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## Jay1960

frank.grimes said:


> Never underestimate what passengers will invent to try and score a free ride. All it takes is one creative POS to get you deactivated. There's plenty of value in keeping them for the maximum reasonable amount of time it would take for the rider to complain. A couple of weeks I'd wager.


Get yourself a 4TB storage drive - only cost around $50. Cloud probably not worth it.
Both tax deductible though


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## Meminiau

Thanks for all the comments

I've only been driving for a couple days and already have 62 GB of video. Based on this, I'll need a new 4TB storage drive every 2 months.

I had thought about only keeping the videos from rides that concerned me at the time, but I don't feel it provides me with enough protection.


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## Who is John Galt?

Meminiau said:


> New Uber driver here
> ===/===
> What do others do? Do you keep all your footage?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


I keep all my footage in a foot locker.


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## Classified

3years with uber myself, 12,000trips, I don’t believe in storing any video, I don’t even have a dashcam. 
I can see the merits of one for insurance purposes. Then you have it in loop mode, but not at al to record passengers; first recording riders seems like a breach of privacy, here taxis recordings cannot be accessed by the driver and only the police, to stop perverts watching footage later, 

If a claim about something was to happen, rider would report within the first 24hours, ie right after the trip or the next day, and would uber actually view the footage if something was to happen. What’s the odds of something actully happening? And what is the worse that can happen, if your assaulted. Rider wil take the camera. 

I’ve found the worse situation when a rider falls asleep, I don’t want to be accused of something trying to wake them up, so then I switch my Phone camera on, to show I havnt touched rider, if I was accused,


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## Meminiau

Thanks for your input, you raise some good points. 

In NSW, so long as your in a public place, which would cover our cars, then there is no expexexpect of privacy and therefore can be video recorded. Plus I have signs on my doors which state that there is a camera in my car.

What concerns me is how easy it "seems" to be to have historic sexual assaults investigated by the authorities, and while I believe these claims need to be looked into by the police, I would like to be prepared should I one day be investigated for such a crime while driving for Uber. 

Maybe I'm just being a little too concerned, but ifI rather be safe and sorry. Your example of someone falling asleep is definitely a good reason to keep a recording for a decent amount of time.


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## Sammy3068

Meminiau said:


> New Uber driver here
> 
> I have a dashcam and cabin camera which I use when I pickup Uber riders for safety and security. My wife thinks it might be a good idea to keep all these videos in case of a future claim, and my previous type of employment leads me to believe that it definitely wouldn't hurt, bbutstorage of all those files is an issue.
> 
> What do others do? Do you keep all your footage?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Yes it is better to keep at least 3 months old. There is a chance of shit happening from no where.



Meminiau said:


> Thanks for your input, you raise some good points.
> 
> In NSW, so long as your in a public place, which would cover our cars, then there is no expexexpect of privacy and therefore can be video recorded. Plus I have signs on my doors which state that there is a camera in my car.
> .


Hang on do you mean if your car is carrying public passenger. You have the rights to record?

Fuber is not a taxi. It is a private vehicle. Hence this is the tricky part to have signs.

You can argue the dashcam is recording your driving and you yourself.That property still belongs to you.

However I still think it is better to have a sign.


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## I Rango

Meminiau said:


> New Uber driver here
> 
> I have a dashcam and cabin camera which I use when I pickup Uber riders for safety and security. My wife thinks it might be a good idea to keep all these videos in case of a future claim, and my previous type of employment leads me to believe that it definitely wouldn't hurt, bbutstorage of all those files is an issue.
> 
> What do others do? Do you keep all your footage?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


I've being doing Uber for 3 years, I use three dash cams front rear and inside. I use the max sized storage card the cam can handle, only use hd cams. I generally get 4 days use before they overwrite footage. If pax complain it usually happen straight away so you can get the footage off the cam. I use window stickers on all windows dash cam in use. That way they have been warned. I can remove the stickers if I sell the car. Also if you have dash cam operating that help's stop fake complaints. I only backup footage if an incident has occurred and I want proof incase I need it.


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## WestSydGuy

Just do what this uber driver does in Melbourne, store it in youtube


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## Meminiau

I Rango said:


> I've being doing Uber for 3 years, I use three dash cams front rear and inside. I use the max sized storage card the cam can handle, only use hd cams. I generally get 4 days use before they overwrite footage. If pax complain it usually happen straight away so you can get the footage off the cam. I use window stickers on all windows dash cam in use. That way they have been warned. I can remove the stickers if I sell the car. Also if you have dash cam operating that help's stop fake complaints. I only backup footage if an incident has occurred and I want proof incase I need it.


That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!


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## BuckleUp

Classified said:


> here taxis recordings cannot be accessed by the driver and only the police, to stop perverts watching footage later,


What a shock! Taxi drivers being perverts. I don't believe it, not one bit.


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## Txuberman

Meminiau said:


> That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!


I know this is an old thread. My two cents, always, religiously, store all rides, consider storing indefinitely. An allegation of misconduct goes far beyond deactivation. It goes into statutes of limitations to bring about claims against another individual. For less significant allegations you might find 2-4 year statutes (depending on your state). More significant allegations have longer. Ifnever called on to defend yourself, you will be RELIEVED, to have the footage.


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## Seamus

You won’t always know right away if someone reports you on a bogus claim.

At the end of each shift I download all files onto my hard drive. I keep them for 6-8 weeks and then delete.

I have a separate folder were i will keep footage forever if there was an issue. In a little over 2 years and thousands of rides I keep 4 rides in permanent storage.


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## Kyanar

Txuberman said:


> I know this is an old thread. My two cents, always, religiously, store all rides, consider storing indefinitely. An allegation of misconduct goes far beyond deactivation. It goes into statutes of limitations to bring about claims against another individual. For less significant allegations you might find 2-4 year statutes (depending on your state). More significant allegations have longer. Ifnever called on to defend yourself, you will be RELIEVED, to have the footage.


Unfortunately this is not possible in my state, Queensland, where the use of a dashcam that records video inside the cabin is an offence under the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Regulation, and the recording of audio a criminal offence under the Invasion of Privacy Act. If we wish to record, we may only do so using a taxicam security system similar to that mentioned upthread by the kiwi - only the Queensland Police and Department of Transport and Main Roads can access the footage, and only in cases where an accusation of crime or civil claim has been made.


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## WestSydGuy

Meminiau said:


> New Uber driver here
> 
> I have a dashcam and cabin camera which I use when I pickup Uber riders for safety and security. My wife thinks it might be a good idea to keep all these videos in case of a future claim, and my previous type of employment leads me to believe that it definitely wouldn't hurt, bbutstorage of all those files is an issue.
> 
> What do others do? Do you keep all your footage?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


I have a good link to youtube at my primary work place, I have uploaded hours of footage from a dashcam, as an "unlisted" video, mainly as a test, but I think it works well as an archive. The painful part was adding the 3 minute clips into one video, it was a cheap dashcam that only recorded when it felt like it. As they say, the poor man pays twice.


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## UberDriverAU

Kyanar said:


> ... recording of audio a criminal offence under the Invasion of Privacy Act.


I'm not sure that a conversation in the presence of a driver would count as a "private conversation". There should be a reasonable expectation the driver will overhear or listen to your conversation, and if they are taking an active part in the conversation they are obviously a party to the conversation as defined in the Act.


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## WestSydGuy

UberDriverAU said:


> I'm not sure that a conversation in the presence of a driver would count as a "private conversation". There should be a reasonable expectation the driver will overhear or listen to your conversation, and if they are taking an active part in the conversation they are obviously a party to the conversation as defined in the Act.


That is QLD specific.


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## UberDriverAU

WestSydGuy said:


> That is QLD specific.


It is, but there are similar laws in other states I believe.


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## Kyanar

UberDriverAU said:


> I'm not sure that a conversation in the presence of a driver would count as a "private conversation". There should be a reasonable expectation the driver will overhear or listen to your conversation, and if they are taking an active part in the conversation they are obviously a party to the conversation as defined in the Act.


You are correct that the driver is entitled to record the conversation when they are actively taking part as they are a party to the conversation, but you are not correct that a conversation in the presence of another person is not a private conversation. A private conversation is any words spoken by one person to another person in circumstances that indicate they desire those words only be heard _or listened to_ by that other person. In other words, unless they're actively speaking to the driver, the driver is not a party to the conversation is an offence. (As noted, QLD specific. Your kilometres may vary).


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## UberDriverAU

Kyanar said:


> You are correct that the driver is entitled to record the conversation when they are actively taking part as they are a party to the conversation, but you are not correct that a conversation in the presence of another person is not a private conversation. A private conversation is any words spoken by one person to another person in circumstances that indicate they desire those words only be heard _or listened to_ by that other person. In other words, unless they're actively speaking to the driver, the driver is not a party to the conversation is an offence. (As noted, QLD specific. Your kilometres may vary).


I think this would cover a driver and mean a conversation in their presence isn't a "private conversation":


> *"private conversation" *means any words spoken by one person to another person in circumstances that indicate that those persons desire the words to be heard or listened to only by themselves or that indicate that either of those persons desires the words to be heard or listened to only by themselves and by some other person, but does not include words spoken by one person to another person in circumstances in which either of those persons ought reasonably to expect the words may be overheard, recorded, monitored or listened to by some other person, not being a person who has the consent, express or implied, of either of those persons to do so.


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## Kyanar

UberDriverAU said:


> I think this would cover a driver and mean a conversation in their presence isn't a "private conversation":


I don't think it would. But regardless, either way you'd have an expensive battle on your hands.


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## UberDriverAU

Kyanar said:


> I don't think it would. But regardless, either way you'd have an expensive battle on your hands.


The words are pretty straightforward. If there's a reasonable expectation that you will be overheard by someone, it's not a "private conversation". Good luck to anyone who wants to argue there shouldn't be a reasonable expectation that a driver won't overhear what passengers say.


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## Kyanar

UberDriverAU said:


> The words are pretty straightforward. If there's a reasonable expectation that you will be overheard by someone, it's not a "private conversation". Good luck to anyone who wants to argue there shouldn't be a reasonable expectation that a driver won't overhear what passengers say.


Legal definitions are rarely "straightforward". You've clearly never seen an actual legal prosecution.


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## Spursman

Having seen some horrendous drivers, and having to take evasive action on numerous occasions, l installed a forward facing dashcam last week.
Looking forward to watching the vision of the idiots who have no idea how to drive on roundabouts and the others that apparently believe that indicators are optional.


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## Kyanar

Spursman said:


> Having seen some horrendous drivers, and having to take evasive action on numerous occasions, l installed a forward facing dashcam last week.
> Looking forward to watching the vision of the idiots who have no idea how to drive on roundabouts and the others that apparently believe that indicators are optional.


Coming from Queensland... what the hell is an "indicator"?


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## RoboRider

Kyanar said:


> Coming from Queensland... what the hell is an "indicator"?


Your turn light ....


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## KawanaPete

Kyanar said:


> Coming from Queensland... what the hell is an "indicator"?


Blinky blinkies...


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