On April 12, the U.S. House of Representatives issued a press release announcing an agreement between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and ride-sharing company, Uber. This agreement was reached after two Democratic Representatives authored a letter to the Agency. The press release appears below.“FTC action follows Luján-Schakowsky letter urging greater scrutiny of Uber’s consumer protection practices after coverup of data breach affecting 57 million customers.Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Ranking Member of the House Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, and Congressman Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) welcomed [the] announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that [the] ride-sharing giant will be subject to greater scrutiny of its efforts to protect sensitive customer data and will be more open and transparent when reporting data breaches in the future. At the same time, they called for additional Congressional action to protect consumers.

Uber logo; graphic by Sandeepnewstyle, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons, no changes.

An agreement reached today between Uber and the FTC requires Uber to disclose all future incidents involving consumer data, including disclosure of reports from third-party audits on Uber’s privacy program. The agreement also specified that Uber must retain records related to potential or actual unauthorized access of consumer data.‘The Federal Trade Commission took the right step in updating its consent decree as Congressman Luján and I requested in December,’ said Schakowsky. ‘But unless Congress strengthens the FTC’s authority and passes comprehensive data security and privacy legislation, consumers’ data will continue to be at risk. Americans deserve more than apologies from companies like Uber, Facebook, and Equifax. They deserve action from Congress.’‘Companies that trade in consumer data are in a position of trust and must be held to the highest standards. The new requirements being imposed on Uber should help consumers have greater confidence in the security of their personal information going forward,’ Luján said. ‘While today’s ruling is good news, we must do more. We need to more fully empower the FTC to take stronger action in cases like this.’In December of last year, after Uber revealed that it had failed to disclose a breach that impacted 57 million consumers while negotiating a settlement with the FTC, Luján and Schakowsky urged the FTC to reevaluate the adequacy of its previous proposed consent agreement with Uber.”