Uber curbs "God View" access as privacy concerns mount

(Reuters) - Online taxi service Uber Technologies Inc has limited employee access to its "God View," a real-time taxi monitoring tool, amid increasing privacy concerns. God View, which lets the company see all Uber cabs in a city and waiting customers who have hailed cars, is now available only to "employees working in operations or other areas, like fraud prevention," Uber said in a letter to Senator Al Franken. Uber was asked to clarify its privacy policy and the use of the tracking tool by the Minnesota senator, who is also the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, last month. Franken said he was concerned about the "surprising lack of detail" in Uber's response. The tool was also shown to some third parties in a "presentation" view, Uber said. The company's business practices have come under scrutiny, with some customers alleging privacy violations, as it has grown rapidly around the world in recent months. A senior Uber executive caused an uproar earlier this month when he told journalists that Uber should consider hiring researchers to examine and disclose activities of media critics. One of its employees had used the tool to check the ride detail of a journalist who was late for a meeting the two had scheduled, technology website Cnet reported on Monday. Uber has been dogged by controversy surrounding its aggressive approach to local governments and traditional taxi services. France, Spain and Thailand have banned some or all Uber services, as have cities such as New Delhi where a female passenger earlier this month accused one of its drivers of rape. Uber was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting By Subrat Patnaik and Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)