Ola, Uber appear before Joint Parliamentary Committee on data protection

Safety, both personal and of data, were the biggest issues on which cab aggregators — Ola and Uber — were questioned extensively by the members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Personal Data Protection. Both companies deposed before the JPC on Thursday.

A member of the JPC said that Ola was committed to data localisation and told the members it shared data only with associate companies. It was not in the business of selling data or any other kind of content.

However, most members wanted to know how data that users of the services parted with, was treated and how it was saved by the companies. They also asked the two firms to explain how drivers who had access to this data were screened and the security architecture that governed the data they had access to.

App-based cab aggregators describe themselves as technology platforms, not taxi operators and till a few years ago, were not covered by any specific laws, policies or regulations.