The driver of Uber and Lyft secretly shot customers on camera and put them at risk

He did not violate local laws, but lost his job in both services.

Frame from driver stream / Twitch

32-year-old Uber and Lyft driver Jason Garzhak from the American city of St. Louis secretly filmed passengers on the camera and streamed on Twitch. The services suspended him from work after complaints, writes TJournal.

In the commercials, passengers often gave their names and addresses, as well as discussing personal topics. According to the newspaper, since March 2018, Garzhak has made 700 trips, and almost all of them were broadcast on Twitch. The video was saved on its channel in the next 60 days. The driver stated that he could have removed them earlier, but did not receive any complaints.

Some of the passengers noticed the camera, but the driver explained to them that he was "taking off for safety." According to Garzhak, at first he warned passengers about the shooting, but eventually he noticed that many of them were embarrassed. Then he stopped notifying customers about the broadcast.

I did not like it. It was unnatural. It was like a pre-shot video.

Jason Garzhak
driver

Garzhak called his car "public space", where he in his own way shows respect to customers. So, he added a censoring stub after one of the passengers accidentally showed underwear under the skirt.

This is partly due to the rules of service, and partly because of respect for people. You know, I wouldn’t want my genitalia to be in the camera, so I’m trying to be as respectful as I can.

Jason Garzhak
driver

For the sake of the “privacy” of passengers, Garzhak began to turn off the camera outside the cabin a few blocks before their home. He drowned out the pronunciation of addresses, if he managed to do this, as well as at least two conversations: about drug addiction and financial situation.

At some point, Garzhak stuck a small sticker on the rear window with a warning about the shooting and automatic consent of the passenger. Garzhak's customers contacted by Post-Dispatch indicated that they did not see the sticker.

Both Lyft and Uber have released “pre-prepared answers” ​​to Post-Dispatch broadcast questions. The publication claims that the services "simply noted that this practice is legitimate."

Partner drivers are responsible for complying with the laws of [state] when they travel, including privacy laws. Writing passengers without consent is illegal in many states, but not in Missouri.

Uber answer

After the first complaints, Uber paid passengers 5 dollars of compensation and promised that Garzhak would never come to their call. After the publication of the history, Uber first removed Garzhak from work, and then ceased cooperation with him. The service explained that the driver’s actions are at odds with the company's internal rules. Lyft deactivated the driver account.

A Twitch spokesman, after publishing, told the publication that the platform would remove Garzhak's streams if he received complaints of a violation of his privacy. On July 21, the Garjak channel was removed from the platform: it had about 4,5 thousands of subscribers and about 100 of them paid five dollars per month for streams.

Garzhak graduated from the police academy in 2017, and is trying to get a job in the department. He said that the installation of cameras cost three thousand dollars. The driver confirmed to Post-Dispatch that he was engaged in broadcasting not for the sake of money, but for the sake of "a sense of security."

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