Jason's Right to Privacy

July 22, 2018

Hey, Everyone!

Meet Jason, an Uber and Lyft driver, who put a video camera in his car to record passengers—and then streamed them online. He posted conversations, and activities (to a point); blacked out addresses and security info; but let viewers comment on passengers’ looks, actions, conversations, etc.

Some passengers were aware that they were being filmed, but none knew that they were being streamed. When he first started, he told passengers that they were being streamed, but then they either clammed up or acted for the camera, and he didn’t like that, so he stopped mentioning it.

Long story short, people were unhappy, felt violated, shamed…Jason doesn’t care. It makes him money.

They have no right to privacy, because they’re in a public conveyance, he says.

I disagree. If they were riding on a public transit bus or train, then they might reasonably expect to be seen and heard by others. But they paid for a private car, so in my opinion they could reasonably expect privacy.

We’ll let the courts sort that out.

In the meantime, Jason asked that his last name not be published in the Post-Dispatch article that covered the story. He was worried about his privacy. He says that the internet can be a crazy place.

Duly noted.

Jason’s last name is Gargac.