On July 15, Uber’s new privacy policy will go into effect, and it highlights how much data the app has access to. Uber can theoretically track your location when the app isn't actively running or even after you've turned off location sharing.

A privacy rights group in Washington D.C. plans to file a complaint today with the Federal Trade Commission over Uber’s privacy policy and its plans to track its customers and access their contacts.

The crux of the issue is that Uber's privacy policy allows it to collect location data about its customers even when the app is just running in the background. On an iPhone or other iOS device, Uber may be able to collect this information "even after an app has been terminated by the user," the complaint states.

But why does Uber need to access your location data when you’re not using the app?

An Uber statement says “location data is essential to connect drivers to riders,” but this is ambiguous at best. Uber told us, "We do not currently collect background location data. We may want to start doing that in order to provide new useful features, such as providing faster loading time when the user opens the app (currently, there is a lag time between opening the app and seeing the available cars in your area, during which time the app is trying to figure out your location)."



But the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the group planning to file the complaint, sees it as unreasonable. The EPIC's complaint says "this collection of user's information far exceeds what customers expect from the transportation service. Users would not expect the company to collect location information when customers are not actively using the app."

Uber’s new policy also allows access to a user's contacts. According to Uber, this will allow "Uber to launch new promotional features that use contacts — for example the ability to send special offers to riders' friends or family."

But Uber is already hedging on these new policies. It said it won’t necessarily begin tracking users on July 15, but is merely exploring "potential new use cases," according to USA Today. And it says there will be methods of opting out.

Uber has a rocky track record with tracking its users, however, and was caught tracking a BuzzFeed reporter's location without her permission using a feature called "God View" last November. Uber has since investigated the New York general manager responsible, Josh Mohrer, claiming in a statement that it has a "strict policy prohibiting all employees at every level from accessing a rider or driver’s data," while "the only exception to this policy is for a limited set of legitimate business purposes."

The EPIC complaint requests that the FTC stop Uber from collecting location data when it is “unnecessary” for the service.

Here is Uber's statement:

There is no basis for this complaint. We care deeply about the privacy of our riders and driver-partners and have significantly streamlined our privacy statements in order to improve readability and transparency. These updated statements don't reflect a shift in our practices, they more clearly lay out the data we collect today and how it is used to provide or improve our services.