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Nat’l Privacy Commission says Uber-Grab deal won’t affect data breach probe


The National Privacy Commission said Tuesday an ongoing investigation into the breach last year that exposed data on Filipino users and drivers of ride-hailing firm Uber would not be affected by the acquisition deal with rival Grab.

“This sale does not affect our ongoing investigation into past Uber breaches that involved Filipino users,” National Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro said in a statement.

“This investigation is continuing and a report would be out soon,” Liboro noted.

In November last year, Uber Technologies Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that the company failed to disclose a massive breach that exposed data on some 57 million users of the ride-sharing service.

According to Uber Technologies Inc., two individuals downloaded data from a third-party cloud server used by Uber, which contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world—including data of Filipino users and drivers.

They also downloaded names and driver’s license numbers of some 600,000 of the company’s US drivers, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post.

Uber Technologies has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to regional rival Grab.

Liboro noted that Grab, through lawyer John Paul Nabua, assured the commission of cooperation and compliance with Philippine data privacy and protection laws.

“Grab also declared to the commission that there will be no sharing of any user data between Uber and Grab. Uber users and drivers will be required to register anew with Grab to allow them to use the Grab TNV platform,” he said.

The commission and Grab will meet next week so that the ride-hailing firm may “enlighten the commission regarding this sale, particularly its provision on the processing of Filipino drivers’ and users’ data and the measures they take in protecting these data,” Liboro noted.

“As the biggest transport network vehicle service provider in the Philippines after the exit of Uber, we want Grab to demonstrate that they could ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to protecting personal data and upholding the data privacy rights of its drivers and users,” he said. —Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News

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