That’s just evil. Next they’re going to look into your calendar to see if you’re running late.
California May Ban Lyft And Uber From AI Price Gouging Users With Low Phone Batteries
Submitted 2 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.jalopnik.com/1933954/california-may-ban-lyft-uber-ai-price-gouge/
Comments
pineapple_pizza@lemmy.dexlit.xyz 2 months ago
Coldcell@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
No, next they’re going to reveal they’ve been mining your calendar data this whole time after a data breach forces them to admit it.
Dojan@pawb.social 2 months ago
May? That already sounds like it’s illegal.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Laws only apply to people who havd under $10m.
Atropos@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Easy! I haven’t gone out for coffee for a couple of years now, so I should definitely…
Checks bank account
Oh no
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’ll be damned if I’m cutting back on avocado toast
barfplanet@lemmy.world 2 months ago
If Lyft and Uber are doing this then I genuinely applaud them. That’s astounding ingenuity in screwing over their customers. True innovators.
BigDiction@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The people making the big bucks in Silicon Valley are often the people really good at understanding psychology and manipulating people’s behavior.
I honestly would have never thought of this either. I’m one of those traditional losers who thinks providing a good value/service at a sustainable margin is a good way to run a business.
piranhaconda@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Good way to run a long term business, sure. Good way to win at capitalism, no.
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Meh. Facebook serves beauty ads to female teens that recently deleted selfies.
kimara@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
The article doesn’t say they do this. It says: “In theory, a service could charge you more if you’re on a vacation in a foreign country, instead of your hometown, because they know you would be willing to pay more. It would be the same if your phone’s battery is low and you’re trying to get home.”
A really bad headline, but not surprising I guess.
blargh513@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Its called clickbait and Jalopnik is a piece of shit site anyway.
CobraChicken3000@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
That’s a thing? Can they also tell that I’m in a shady neighborhood?
JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
I mean, they absolutely could and it would be absolutely trivial to compare a database of crime rates to your departure location. The question should really be “Are they checking if I’m in a shady neighborhood?”
dumples@midwest.social 2 months ago
Don’t even need to compare. Just putting something like zip-9 / location into a machine learning model and it will do it for you. Just using advanced models to reinforce redlining
xodoh74984@lemmy.world 2 months ago
if battery < 10: price = price * 2
Many AI. Much wow.
pharceface@retrolemmy.com 2 months ago
I never even considered that this was being done. Thankfully I rarely use those services.
Glitterbomb@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Uninstalled uber last week when it told me to take a photo of my ID to ride. Next week I’ll hear about some Brazilian hacker that has 100 million US IDs from an uber leak. No thanks. Lyft will probably do the same thing soon, and I’ll unceremoniously dump their ass too.
BetaBlake@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Y’all gotta stop buying Apple shit
MurrayL@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Nowhere in the article or the original report does it say this is specific to Apple devices.
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Yeah, but you can’t circumvent this on iOS. It’s incredibly easy to spoof information on android.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Still, it’s good advice.
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
they should stop at 'from' and just ban them completely
xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 2 months ago
Look, does it really matter whether they do or not? If a company is morally bankrupt enough to conduct business like this in the first place, it’s a certainty they’ll just find some other novel way to be flaming assholes.
If you don’t want to get cheated, stop doing business with thieves and liars.
MurrayL@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Personally, I’d rather have a robust and up-to-date set of consumer protections rather than leaving everything up to ‘buyer beware’.
xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 2 months ago
That would be ideal of course, but this is the US we’re talking about, so it seems unlikely that you’ll have them.
yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 2 months ago
I’ve stopped using both soon after the pandemic. I can call a taxi if I really need it.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Did they ban AI from using commas in post subjects?
FishFace@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Did they ban AI from using proper titling case?
The answer is no, and this may be one way in which AI should be allowed to displace humans Who Write Titles By Capitalising Every Word Even The Ones Which Should Not Be.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I learned how to title in elementary school, because, ya know, it’s pretty damned elementary.
MisterMoo@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Why does Apple even let apps read my phone model and battery level?
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Because they pay apple? I’d imagine that’s obvious. It’s more useful metrics for the company, I would be surprised if they didn’t tier the information access about users behind closed doors.
bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
I’d rather the ability to fudge these stats to developers, cause my info is none of their damn business, especially when I’m paying for a service.
phx@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
some permissions can be set per app. I’m not sure battery level is one of those and I have apps (i.e. homeassistant) which can read thatwithout me actually having explicitly allowed it. Usually it’s stuff one pictures/files, location, camera or health data that are restricted
Katana314@lemmy.world 2 months ago
In a way I think that expectation should be normal. What really shouldn’t be normal is for everything to be an app, and not a website.
Windows Phone almost got this right - trying to focus more on HTML5 Manifest features and better browser/pinning integration, so that a company like Lyft can offer its full feature set through a website that works on all phones. Then, we could rely on the fact that we only need install a few apps that we trust.
yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 2 months ago
Last I checked Uber can be used from the browser. Not the most user friendly though