Washington: Uber Technologies Inc on Tuesday released its first ever transparency report detailing the information requested by not only US law enforcement agencies, but also by regulators.
The ride-sharing company said that between July and December 2015, it had provided information on more than 12 million riders and drivers to various US regulators and on 469 users to state and federal law agencies.
The privately held company said the agencies requested information on trips, trip requests, pickup and dropoff areas, fares, vehicles, and drivers.
"Our dedicated team of experts, who are trained to manage these requests, ensures that any disclosure of information is consistent with our internal policies and applicable law. For example, we may require a subpoena, court order or search warrant before providing different types of information."
Uber said it got 415 requests from law enforcement agencies, a majority of which came from state governments, and that it was able to provide data in nearly 85 per cent of the cases.
A large number of the law enforcement requests were related to fraud investigations or the use of stolen credit cards, according to the report.
The vast majority of requests, 368, came from state authorities and 47 from federal officials.
The report also said Uber received 33 requests from regulatory agencies, providing data in less than half of those instances. It also received 34 requests from airport regulatory agencies.
Uber said it had not received any national security letters or orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance act.
The company has not disclosed such requests for information from other countries.
US technology firms such as Google, Facebook and Apple have begun releasing periodic transparency reports as part of an effort to show how customer data is protected in the wake of revelations of government surveillance.
San Francisco-based Uber, which allows individuals to offer rides via a smartphone application, has expanded to hundreds of cities worldwide and more than 60 countries, drawing protests from the taxi industry and regulators.
The company has become one of the biggest venture-backed startups, with a valuation of more than $50 billion based on private investment disclosed to date, with some reports saying the valuation is over $60 billion.
With inputs from AFP and Reuters
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