Waymo called the cops on teen riders, raising privacy concerns
Page 3/9

"There already exist laws that govern duty to report or even duty to protect" for carriers such as Waymo, according to Alessandro Acquisti , a professor of information technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management. "The privacy problems arise when and if driverless carrier companies used such laws or ethical obligations as a pretext for blanket, indiscriminate accumulation of identifiable data for unspecified future purposes."

That includes not just monitoring people inside the cars, but outside too. Take, for example, a hit-and-run investigation last year in Los Angeles. Media reported that the police inquiry was aided by video captured by a Waymo taxi that had a clear view of the crime. Critics suggested at the time that authorities were using the company's vehicles as a mobile surveillance platform.

Prev
Next
Back to headlines
News menu
Home