Privacy Issues in Online Ride Service

As a solo female traveler, there are times when being vigilant and having resting bitch face helps. But nowadays, with our life connected online sometimes we forget that people can infringe our privacy even online.

I am very disappointed with the Grab service that they mention they’d protect our privacy but my experience said otherwise. Just after I finished my ride, the Grab driver contacted me on my whatsapp with a message unrelating to the service. The question is, how do they know my number?

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The drivers have something called “Code ethics" which apparently also states that they should never contact the customer/Grab partners/staff for any reason other than Grab service. It is all stated in their Code Ethics page.

I was quite taken aback because I am quite conservative in replying to people and expect people not to contact me unless it’s very urgent. I also only do chit-chat with very selective people. So, a bit of shaking, I immediately reached out to customer service asking how did that happen? Why did the driver contact me unrelated to the service?

The customer service only felt sorry and I don’t think sorry is enough to prevent such an instance from happening again.

Sorry doesn’t fix their privacy issue.

Sorry also doesn’t fix the fact that the customer number is leaked.

I thought they would randomize the number but apparently not.

As a long time customer, I am thoroughly disappointed.

I panicked for a bit which is why this post needs editing. That moment I knew that I needed to change my fake name and also replace the number.

I blocked the driver number and the same was instructed by the customer service. During my reporting, I also provided a screenshot to let them know that my complaint is legitimate.

Just when I thought this would not happen to me, it did. For the last couple of years, they never had this issue or maybe it just wasn't my time yet.

Only today even recently, this seems like an issue. Why is their service declining? privacy or even consent communication don't exist anymore. It just further proof that privacy is rarity these days. In short, there's no privacy as long as it's about profit.

When it comes to ethics, I doubt people read those and just take it very lightly. I don’t know why the company doesn’t take extreme measures on it. I guess as long as they make some profits, customers are the least that they care about.

The message itself isn't extremely harmful or anything. It was just sort of “ can I get to know you? And some other text that to me is creepy. Not to mention, on the way to my destination the driver asked where I was staying, whether I was alone, or if I had family and where I am originating from. Since I know the drill, I obviously do not tell the truth.

This is very important when dealing with strangers in Indonesia.Do not tell the full truth unless you know them. Many Indonesian I know, they often just blurt out a lot of sensitive information. It doesn’t help that the culture in Indonesia is that, people get curious about our personal information. Like in the past, I get the question: what was my religion, who was my mother, what did my parents do. Sure, there’s nothing wrong about talking to each other but the conversation topic isn’t something that many Indonesians are good at picking.