In less than four weeks, Uber Technologies Inc.’s new privacy policy is due to go into effect. Uber will then be able to access your location even when your location sharing is turned off and the Uber app is not actively running. The new privacy policy will also allow Uber to access their users’ address books and collect their contacts names and contact information.

However, if the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have their way this new privacy policy will not come into effect on July 15. They have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In the complaint EPIC state:

Uber will claim the right to collect personal contact information and detailed location data of American consumers, even when they are not using the service. These changes ignore the FTC’s prior decisions, threaten the privacy rights and personal safety of American consumers, ignore past bad practices of the company involving the misuse of location data, pose a direct risk of consumer harm, and constitute an unfair and deceptive trade practice subject to investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

When Uber announced the new privacy statements on May 28, they stated in their update regarding access to a rider’s location to “allow Uber to ask for access to a rider’s location when the app is running in the background and get people on their way more quickly.” In reference to gaining access to your contacts they stated “these changes would allow Uber to launch new promotional features that use contacts — for example the ability to send special offers to riders’ friends or family.”

In the new privacy policy, Uber states that it will be possible to opt out of the promotional messages; however, regardless of this opt-out option, EPIC insists that it is still too invasive. The say “that this collection of user’s information far exceeds what customers expect from the transportation service.”

This is not the first time that Uber has been in the news regarding tracking a user’s location. In November, they were in hot water when one of their general managers, Josh Mohrer, used a feature called ‘God View’ and tracked a Buzzfeed reporter without her knowledge.

We will have to wait and see what the FTC’s final decision is and whether Uber will gain Big Brother-like powers to track and monitor us.

Image credit: David Blackwell | Flickr | CC BY-ND 2.0