Would you be comfortable knowing your government is keeping a track of your Uber rides? If the answer is yes then you might as well be glad that you don’t live in Egypt. The New York Times recently published a report that suggests that the Egyptian government has asked Uber to grant them access to Heaven — a tool that live-tracks user’s travel data. Fortunately, Uber refused to agree to this proposal.
The report further goes on to suggest that the military intelligence officials were willing to give “preferential treatment” to Careem (Uber rival) if they decide to give into the government’s demands. However, even Careem refused to abide by the rules. The question remains: How long before these companies actually are legally forced to give into the Egyptian government’s demands?
As reported by Engadget, the Egyptian Parliament is planning on passing a bill that could mandate ride-sharing companies to host relevant servers within Egypt and also share their data to “relevant” government bodies. If this bill meets its inception, then the Egyptian government will have full access to user’s ride data and perhaps even use it to their personal benefits.
