What We’re Fighting For

We stand against the overcollection and misuse of data that can be used to track and surveil individuals. One such tool, the Mobility Data Specification (MDS), allows local governments to track people’s personal movements through cities in real time. In light of the potential for abuse, CARS is asking cities to reject real-time MDS tracking programs and instead adopt data collection policies that improve the transportation landscape while protecting rider privacy and safety. Our plan is a simple one. We want riders to have:

Privacy & Safety

Tracking individual vehicles puts riders at risk. Instead, cities should collect aggregated transportation data that allows them to plan but can’t be used to identify or follow riders.

Dialogue

Cities should engage residents and stakeholders in a public dialogue before implementing vehicle tracking programs.

Accountability

Cities should clearly publicize their policies and practices for handling location data, and create a swift adjudication process for victims of improper data handling.

Security

Cities should adopt clear and robust privacy safeguards before implementing data-collection programs.

Choice

Cities should obtain opt-in consent from riders before tracking their movements and allow riders to request that their data be deleted.

Transparency

Cities should tell riders how their location data will be used and how long it will be retained before collecting it.

Confidentiality

Transportation officials should not share location data with other government agencies or private entities absent a formal agreement stating how it will be used. Cities should also commit in writing to requiring a warrant before sharing location data with law enforcement.

Public Trust

Cities should codify their commitment to not monetize riders’ private location data, and prohibit any commercial use of the data by city vendors and contractors.